One line ftp server in python

Question

Is it possible to have a one line command in python to do a simple ftp server? I'd like to be able to do this as quick and temporary way to transfer files to a linux box without having to install a ftp server. Preferably a way using built in python libraries so there's nothing extra to install.

Answer 1

The simpler solution will be to user pyftpd library. This library allows you to spin Python FTP server in one line. It doesn’t come installed by default though, but we can install it using simple apt command

apt-get install python-pyftpdlib

now from the directory you want to serve just run the pythod module

python -m pyftpdlib -p 21 

Answer 2

Good list of tools at

http://www.willdonnelly.net/blog/file-transfer/

I've used woof myself on a number of occasions. Very nice.

Answer 3

Check out pyftpdlib from Giampaolo Rodola. It is one of the very best ftp servers out there for python. It's used in google's chromium (their browser) and bazaar (a version control system). It is the most complete implementation on Python for RFC-959 (aka: FTP server implementation spec).

From the commandline:

python -m pyftpdlib

Alternatively 'my_server.py':

#!/usr/bin/env python

from pyftpdlib import servers
from pyftpdlib.handlers import FTPHandler
address = ("0.0.0.0", 21)  # listen on every IP on my machine on port 21
server = servers.FTPServer(address, FTPHandler)
server.serve_forever()

There's more examples on the website if you want something more complicated.

To get a list of command line options:

python -m pyftpdlib --help

Note, if you want to override or use a standard ftp port, you'll need admin privileges (e.g. sudo).

Answer 4

Why don't you instead use a one-line HTTP server?

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000

will serve the contents of the current working directory over HTTP on port 8000.

If you use Python 3, you should instead write

python3 -m http.server 8000

See the SimpleHTTPServer module docs for 2.x and the http.server docs for 3.x.

By the way, in both cases the port parameter is optional.

Answer 5

For pyftpdlib users. I found this on the pyftpdlib website. This creates anonymous ftp with write access to your filesystem so please use with due care. More features are available under the hood for better security so just go look:

sudo pip install pyftpdlib

python -m pyftpdlib -w

Might be helpful for those that tried using the deprecated method above.

sudo python -m pyftpdlib.ftpserver

Answer 6

Obligatory Twisted example:

twistd -n ftp

And probably useful:

twistd ftp --help

Usage: twistd [options] ftp [options].
WARNING: This FTP server is probably INSECURE do not use it.
Options:
  -p, --port=           set the port number [default: 2121]
  -r, --root=           define the root of the ftp-site. [default:
                    /usr/local/ftp]
  --userAnonymous=  Name of the anonymous user. [default: anonymous]
  --password-file=  username:password-style credentials database
  --version         
  --help            Display this help and exit.