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

I dont know about a one-line FTP server, but if you do

python -m SimpleHTTPServer

It'll run an HTTP server on 0.0.0.0:8000, serving files out of the current directory. If you're looking for a way to quickly get files off a linux box with a web browser, you cant beat it.

Answer 2

Install:

pip install twisted

Then the code:

from twisted.protocols.ftp import FTPFactory, FTPRealm
from twisted.cred.portal import Portal
from twisted.cred.checkers import AllowAnonymousAccess, FilePasswordDB
from twisted.internet import reactor

reactor.listenTCP(21, FTPFactory(Portal(FTPRealm('./'), [AllowAnonymousAccess()])))
reactor.run()

Get deeper:

http://twistedmatrix.com/documents/current/core/examples/

Answer 3

The answers above were all assuming your Python distribution would have some third-party libraries in order to achieve the "one liner python ftpd" goal, but that is not the case of what @zio was asking. Also, SimpleHTTPServer involves web broswer for downloading files, it's not quick enough.

Python can't do ftpd by itself, but you can use netcat, nc:

nc is basically a built-in tool from any UNIX-like systems (even embedded systems), so it's perfect for "quick and temporary way to transfer files".

Step 1, on the receiver side, run:

nc -l 12345 | tar -xf -

this will listen on port 12345, waiting for data.

Step 2, on the sender side:

tar -cf - ALL_FILES_YOU_WANT_TO_SEND ... | nc $RECEIVER_IP 12345

You can also put pv in the middle to monitor the progress of transferring:

tar -cf - ALL_FILES_YOU_WANT_TO_SEND ...| pv | nc $RECEIVER_IP 12345

After the transferring is finished, both sides of nc will quit automatically, and job done.