Troubleshooting P4FTP

This chapter provides information to help you determine what to do if a P4FTP does not succeed or you do not understand the results of an operation.

Error messages

Cannot make connection to host

Make sure:

  • P4FTP is running.
  • You are connected to the FTP server (Dreamweaver)
  • You entered your Perforce user name in the web site’s remote configuration (Dreamweaver).
Cannot open remote folder
(Dreamweaver) The folder specified as the Host directory in a site’s remote configuration does not exist, or the Perforce client specification Host field specifies a computer other than the one where P4FTP is running.
Can’t clobber writable file
(Dreamweaver) Verify that your client workspace directory does not reside in your web site’s local root, or vice versa.
Error opening local file
You are attempting to get a file when a read-only copy already resides on your computer. (Perforce sets a file’s protection to read-only when you do not have the file open for edit.)

Other questions

Why are my Dreamweaver files not visible in Perforce?
When you use P4FTP to connect Dreamweaver to a Perforce depot, your changes are made when you disconnect from the remote site (choose Site → Disconnect). If you are monitoring changes to the depot using P4V, for example, refresh its display after you disconnect and your Dreamweaver changes are displayed.
I created a directory using FTP and it disappeared - why?
If you connect to P4FTP using a command-line FTP client and use the mkdir command to create a directory in a Perforce depot, Perforce removes that directory when you disconnect unless the directory contains files. To ensure that the directory remains, you can use the FTP put command to upload a file to it. Note that the file you upload is added to the Perforce depot when your FTP client disconnects from p4ftpd.
My command-line FTP client/Dreamweaver froze after connecting/prompting for P4FTP - why?
Windows computers: if you started P4FTP from a DOS window, check whether characters have been selected in the startup window. To unselect the characters (and unfreeze the FTP client), click in the window where you started P4FTP and press Enter.
Why do I have .lck files in my workspace/depot?

If you enable Checkin/Checkout, Dreamweaver creates .lck files in your workspace when you check files out and deletes the .lck files when you check files in. However, for Dreamweaver locking to work correctly with P4FTP, you must also enable Dreamweaver locking (specify the -O dwlocking option) when you start p4ftpd. If you do not enable Dreamweaver locking, P4FTP automatically checks in the .lck files along with the associated HTML files.

Fix: restart p4ftpd, specifying the -O dwlocking option. To remove all .lck files from your depot, you can use the p4 obliterate command, but before doing so, be sure to observe all the precaution described in the Helix Versioning Engine Administrator Guide: Fundamentals.

Using a command-line FTP client

You can use an FTP command-line client to interact with a Perforce depot through P4FTP. P4FTP also supports Perforce-related commands. To display a list of Perforce-related commands, issue one of the following commands:

  • UNIX: rhelp
  • Windows: remotehelp

The following Perforce-related command is supported.

Command Description

SITE REVERT <full_file_path>

Manually revert a file open for edit