TomatoUSB

Hello!
First i'd like to say THANK YOU to the TomatoUSB developers!

I'm using the Kernel 2.4 - Std version on a WRT54GL.
I'm looking for a way to mount a remote ftp directory into the linux filesystem.
the ubuntu 'curlftpfs' package does the trick but unfortunately it is not available in the
IPKG repository.
Also, i read about 'fuseftp' and 'lufs' which can also be used to mount a remote ftp directory,
but again i can't find anything like these into the optware repository.

what is the easiest way to do it?

Do you have ssh access to the remote server that hosts the ftp?
You can try sshfs that will mount a remote directory to your client machine:

On the client machine/router:

mkdir /mnt/sshfs
sshfs root@192.168.1.1:/mnt/USB/ftp /mnt/sshfs

Then to unmount use fusermount:

fusermount -u /mnt/sshfs

thank you for your reply.
im running Tomato v.1.28.8754 ND USB Std (kernel 2.4)
and I'm unable to find sshfs in the system.
Nor it is available through IPKG repository.

tried like: # ipkg list | grep -i ssh

no sshfs shows up…

The post I was reading is from DD-WRT (pastebin-dot-com/VNhFw3iv). and says something about switching from the default ssh server called Dropbear to OpenSSH.

Is that still an option? Not sure if sshfs comes along with OpenSSH because all the systems (PC's, not routers) that I've used sshfs on, I had to install it separately. It didn't come with OpenSSH by default.

I'd be interested to see if this worked for you so post back please if you get it working from the router side.

To use scp, winscp and ssh, you need optware "openssh-sftp-server"
To install, telnet, "ipkg install openssh-sftp-server".
With above optware, you should be able to access your ftp directory. What you need is to perform ssh to your router. Then you will be like in telnet mode in your router and do all manipulation inside.
To ssh to your router, do, on telnet, ssh root@my-router. Then perform change directory to access your ftp directory.
note: i don't see the need for mounting, you can specify folders that you wanted to share inside the FTP menu.

@leandroong

I think what the OP is trying to do here is mount a remote ftp site to a directory in his router somewhere.

Example:
Trying to mount someftp-dot-com/remotedir1/dir2 to /mnt/dir2 on the local system (the local system being the router). This would make it easier to browse and grab files "locally".
But we're having some trouble finding a suitable package to do this. I've suggested sshfs, but that only works if he has ssh access to the remote ftp server…

Do you know of any packages in optware that allow mounting a remote ftp locally like fuseftp or lufs?

I saw that sftp (goes by openssh-sftp-server) is available where that tunnels the ftp connection through ssh and this way, you can navigate the remote ftp via command line and still access local folders and dirs.
Inside the sftp connection, there are commands available to navigate your local file system and the remote ftp file system to make sure that you are in the proper working directory and that the needed folders are created when you issue a "get" command to the ftp.

I don't think the OP is having an issue mounting a local FTP service.

For mounting remote ftp server, I don't have knowledge on that. But if the objective is to grab the folder files contents, there is an optware called "ncftp" that allows you to fetch remote ftp server data. I use this optware for uploading and downloading files like 4shared. Another optware is plowshare.

Guys, thanks for your concern! :)

In fact, my objective is to write files to a remote location,
since i have only 4Mb capacity in my box.
So, i have to choose between samba or ftp. (my first choice is ftp)
(i won't use samba unless it is really my last option)

When you working in the router and run applications,
sometimes applications needs to write files to the filesystem,
and these file can become quickly bigger than 4Mb…

that's why i need to mount a remote directory into my filesystem,
this way the app running in the router (command line app)
can write to the "remote mounted" directory, not even knowing it is remote.

I don't copy the files to that remote server myself, i mean manually.
the files are dumped by the command line application.

for instance:
root@mac:/tmp/home/root# application -w /directory/file.log

In the above example, the "application" is launched and is dumping its log
to the file at '/directory/file.log'
(using the '-w' argument) and because of the router limited memory capacity,
i need that directory to be remote.

ncftp can accomplish uploading. If I remember correctly, i just create a folder that contains pictures that I want to be uploaded unattendedly to 4shared with one line command. With this, I think you can easily write script to upload then delete.
this is my sample script file when I want to upload to 4 shared:

upload_pic.sh
#!/bin/sh
ncftpput -bb -F -u moc.oohay|nael#moc.oohay|nael -p ma ftp.4shared.com / /mnt/harddisk/upload/*.jpg
ncftpbatch -d

note: to run, telnet, "sh upload_pic.sh"

all you need is ncftp optware. plus you need to edit profile to add
NCFTP add “export NCFTPDIR=/mnt/mydata/upload”

Hope this helps

leandroong, yes it helps!
i been looking into ftp clients that can upload files using command line.
ncftp is too large to fit into my box though. (ncftp installs a lib called 'ncurses' which is huge)
instead i'm running 'wput', a tool that uploads files/dir to ftp servers.
wput is using about 3.3Mb on the filesystem. sweet.

so, leandroog, THANKS MAN!