lftp: Teaching an old dog to do new tricks

I do believe lftp was the first console-based FTP client I used in Linux. And I remember trying that after working with things like WS_FTP and Filezilla and thinking, “Geez, is this how people do this in Linux?”

Of course the answer to that is “no,” and I know that now, but it does amuse me to think that I assumed anything FTP would happen in a terminal emulator in Linux.

lftp has its origins way back in 1996, can handle any number of protocols including direct server-to-server, and can run on machines as lowly as 486s, if the supporting OS is there, I presume.

Blah blah blah. Tell me about the torrent client!

That’s right, don’t let your system administrator find out, but lftp can handle torrent traffic too. It’s fairly simple and doesn’t nearly have the frills that some others do, but you can kill two birds with one stone now.

My only fear is that this will usher in an age of lftp becoming a jack-of-all-download tools, and I prefer applications find their focus and concentrate on it.

Regardless, it’s nice to see a program with such an extensive history picking up a few new tricks to stay apace with technology. 🙂

P.S., last update was in October. 😀