Supporting https in actsync (ftp.isc.org)

[Julien ÉLIE]

Hi all,

ftp.isc.org will probably shut down the FTP protocol in a few weeks. 
HTTPS will remain.  See the announcement here:
  
http://al.howardknight.net/?STYPE=msgid&MSGI=%3C1f19a554-8a81-ce8c-8ac6-7ab1e053a632%40isc.org%3E

I'll update actsync / actsyncd to allow to fetch the active file from 
external HTTP(S) sources.  It currently does not handle these protocols.


The current actsync.cfg configuration file works like this:

   host=ftp.isc.org
   ftppath=/pub/usenet/CONFIG/active.gz
   flags=-v 0 -p 80
   ignore_file=actsync.ign

If ftppath is set, actsyncd downloads ftp://host/ftppath and then runs 
gunzip (if the file ends with .gz) or uncompress (if the file ends with .Z).

To keep backwards-compatibility, I suggest to add two keywords (path and 
protocol) and undocument ftppath (which will remain recognized as though 
it were path).  The default value of protocol will be "ftp".

This way,

   host=ftp.isc.org
   protocol=https
   path=/pub/usenet/CONFIG/active.gz
   flags=-v 0 -p 80
   ignore_file=actsync.ign

will download protocol://host/path and the previous configuration file 
will still download ftp://host/ftppath.


I don't know whether someone here uses actsync.  If that's the case and 
he has comments about the proposal or has proposals for any feature 
requests to add to actsync, this is the time to tell :)

-- 
Julien ÉLIE

« Je ne voudrais tout de même pas que Cléopâtre m'ait dans le nez ! »
   (César)