Chapter 4. Miscellaneous Topics

Networktransparency via TDEIO

TDEIO-Slaves

-KDE supports networktransparency via TDEIO-slaves. KDiff3 uses this -for reading input files and for scanning directories. -This means that you can specify files and directories on local and -remote resources via URLs. -

-Example: -

-   kdiff3 test.cpp  ftp://ftp.faraway.org/test.cpp
-   kdiff3 tar:/home/hacker/archive.tar.gz/dir ./dir
-

The first line compares a local file with a file on an FTP-server. The second line -compares a directory within an compressed archive with a local directory. -

-Other TDEIO-slaves that are interesting are: -

Files from the WWW (http:),
Files from the FTP (ftp:),
Encrypted file transfer (fish:, sftp:),
Windows-ressources (smb:),
Local files (file:),

-Other things that are possible, but probably less useful are: -

Man-pages (man:),
Info-pages (info:),

How To Write URLs

- An URL has a different syntax compared with paths for local files and directories. - Some things should be considered: -

- A path can be relative and can contain "." or "..". This is not possible for URLs - which are always absolute. -
- Special characters must be written with "escaping". ("#"->"%23", space->"%20", etc.) - E.g. A file with the name "/#foo#" would have the URL "file:/%23foo%23". -
- When URLs don't work as expected, try to open them in Konqueror first. -

Capabilities of TDEIO-Slaves

- Networktransparency has one drawback: Not all ressources have the same cababilities. -

- Sometimes this is due to the file system of the server, sometimes due to the protocol. - Here is a short list of restrictions: -

- Sometimes there is no support for links. -
- Or there is no way to distinguish if a link points to a file or a directory; always - assuming a file. (ftp:, sftp:). -
- Can't always determine the filesize. -
- Limited support for permissions. -
- No possibility to modify permissions or modification time, so permissions or time - of a copy will differ from the original. (See the option "Trust the size".) - (To modify permissions or modification time is only possible for local files.) -