There appears to be a problem with the Kerberos ftp client (usr/kerberos/bin/ftp) auto-authentication routines. Here's a history of the problem I've had: I just installed Xemacs-21.1.11 (Carlsbad Caverns) on a new installation of Red Hat 6.2. I also downloaded and untarred the xemacs-sumo-2000-09-04.tar.gz into the /usr/local/lib/xemacs/ directory. When I attempted to "Update Installed Packages" (from any of the U.S. mirrors), I got the following error messages: Open Metalab.Unc.Edu Connected To Metalab.Unc.Edu. 220 Helios.Oit.Unc.Edu Ftp Server (Version Wu-2.6.1(1) Sat Jul 8 10:18:10 Edt 2000) Ready. Quote User "Anonymous" 530 Please Login With User And Pass. If I tried to open an ftp connection to /ftp.xemacs.org:/ I get: Opening FTP connection to ftp.emacs.org... Logging in as user anonymous... FTP error: USER request failed: 500 AUTH not understood Judging from the error codes, the problem is with the ftp client. Output from ps -Afl, during an attempt to login to ftp.xemacs.org from within Xemacs indicates that Xemacs is using /usr/kerberos/bin/ftp as the ftp client: 000 S root 12825 12715 3 73 0 - 562 read_c 03:45 ttyp2 00:00:00 /usr/kerberos/bin/ftp -i -n -g -v When I tried to manually try to log in to the ftp server using the command line above: # /usr/kerberos/bin/ftp -i -n -g -v ftp.xemacs.org I got the following error codes: Connected to xemacs.org. 220 ProFTPD 1.2.0pre10 Server (ProFTPD on ftp.tux.org) [gwyn.tux.org] 500 AUTH not understood. 500 AUTH not understood. KERBEROS_V4 rejected as an authentication type ftp> Therefore, there appears to be a problem with the Kerberos ftp client auto-authentication routines. The workaround is to specify another ftp client (e.g. /usr/bin/ftp) as Michael Sperber <sperber.de> suggested, > Alternatively, use a > non-kerberized ftp client (in our setup, /usr/bin/ftp is it) and set > the value of `efs-ftp-program-name' to it. ...or disable auto-authentication, as Evgeny Roubinchtein <evgenyr.edu> suggested > I saw the same exact problem. Add a "-u" to the list which is the > value of the efs-ftp-program-args variable (either using the Customize > facility (i.e. "M-x customize-variable efs-ftp-program-args") (probably > the cleanest), or add the following to your .emacs file. > (eval-after-load "efs" > '(setq efs-ftp-program-args (cons "-u" efs-ftp-program-args)))
Generally, the kerberized ftp client makes ftp connections look "tatty". Take a look: [chris@localhost chris]$ ftp ftp.lmh.ox.ac.uk Connected to ferret.lmh.ox.ac.uk. 220 ferret.lmh.ox.ac.uk FTP server ready. 500 'AUTH GSSAPI': command not understood. 500 'AUTH KERBEROS_V4': command not understood. KERBEROS_V4 rejected as an authentication type Name (ftp.lmh.ox.ac.uk:chris): The three lines in the middle really should be suppressed and not output to the terminal.
Red Hat Linux is no longer supported by Red Hat, Inc. If you are still running Red Hat Linux, you are strongly advised to upgrade to a current Fedora Core release or Red Hat Enterprise Linux or comparable. Some information on which option may be right for you is available at http://www.redhat.com/rhel/migrate/redhatlinux/. Red Hat apologizes that these issues have not been resolved yet. We do want to make sure that no important bugs slip through the cracks. Please check if this issue is still present in a current Fedora Core release. If so, please change the product and version to match, and check the box indicating that the requested information has been provided. Note that any bug still open against Red Hat Linux on will be closed as 'CANTFIX' on September 30, 2006. Thanks again for your help.
Red Hat Linux is no longer supported by Red Hat, Inc. If you are still running Red Hat Linux, you are strongly advised to upgrade to a current Fedora Core release or Red Hat Enterprise Linux or comparable. Some information on which option may be right for you is available at http://www.redhat.com/rhel/migrate/redhatlinux/. Closing as CANTFIX.