The NetFox plugin (the connection manager, and the sftp://, scp:// and smb:// addresses) offers these connection types. Connections are stored in the manager; a folder bookmark or a drive-menu link reopens one through its net:// address (below).
| Type | Address | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FTP | connection manager | |
| SFTP | sftp://[user@]host[:port]/path |
key, agent or password |
| SCP | scp://[user@]host[:port]/path |
opens the SFTP backend (below) |
| SMB | smb://[domain;]user[:password]@host[:port]/share/path |
Windows and Samba shares |
| FISH+ | connection manager (type fish+, fish is a synonym) |
see FISH+.md |
A saved connection has an address, net://<connection name>, and a folder on the server under it is net://<connection name>/<folder>: net://work-server/var/log opens the connection "work-server" of the manager, of whatever type, with the password, key, proxy, codepage and start folder stored in it, and then goes to /var/log. The bare net:// is the connection manager itself. The address works wherever a path does: the command line, the go-to dialog, a folder bookmark (BOOKMARKS.md), a drive-menu link.
That address is what a bookmark or a link made on a NetFox panel stores. Ctrl+Shift+<digit>, Ins in the bookmarks dialog and Ins in the drive menu record net://<name>/<current folder> while the panel is on the server; in the connection manager, with the cursor on a connection, they record net://<name>, so a connection is bookmarked without being opened and the bookmark opens it in its start folder; with the cursor on <Add connection> they record net://. A session opened from an sftp://, scp:// or smb:// address rather than from the manager is bookmarked under that address without its password, sftp://user@host:2222/var/log. (Before this, such a bookmark stored the folder alone, /var/log, and opened the local one of that name.)
In the address the connection name stands where a host would, as the user typed it, with only / and % escaped (%2F, %25); the folder follows verbatim. A connection renamed or deleted since the bookmark was made is reported by name when the bookmark is used; a folder that is no longer on the server leaves the connection open where it starts, and a toast says so. Jumping to a bookmark always opens a new connection, as the sftp:// addresses do. Saved sessions and folder history do not use the address: a start of f4 never opens a connection on its own.
scp:// and the connection type SCP are the SFTP backend under the name people expect from scp: an SSH server that speaks SCP today also speaks SFTP, and SFTP gives real file listing, random access and rename, which the SCP protocol has no wire format for. A host with only the old SCP subsystem and no SFTP is not supported.
Saving an edited file renames a staged temp file onto the original, so SFTP replaces an existing target when the caller asks for overwrite: atomically through posix-rename@openssh.com where the server offers it, otherwise by parking the old file under a backup name for the moment of the swap. A plain rename with no overwrite decision still refuses an existing target (f4#1716, docs/ISSUES/ISSUE_1716_SFTP_SAVE_OVERWRITE.md).
smb://[domain;]user[:password]@host[:port]/share/path: the port is 445 unless given, the DOMAIN;user form of smbclient is understood, and without a user the logon is anonymous. Without a share (smb://host/) the panel lists the shares of the server. On systems other than Windows the UNC forms \\host, \\host\share\dir (and //host/share when there is no such local path) typed on the command line or in the path box open the same way. The panel reads, writes, creates folders, renames and deletes, and copies to and from it use the ordinary file operations. Shares themselves are made and removed on the server, not from the panel, and one rename cannot cross two shares (copy and delete instead). It is a pure Go client (github.com/cloudsoda/go-smb2), so no mount and no external tool is involved. The SMB type is in the full build only; the lite build leaves it out.
Not done yet: a password store or keyring for SMB connections, and Kerberos.
On Windows, and in every full build elsewhere, Network (Commands menu, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W, or the "Network" drive in Alt+F1) shows the network the way Far Manager's Network panel does. On Windows the system lists it: domains and workgroups, their servers and their shares. Elsewhere the servers are the SMB hosts this session has reached (by smb://host, \\host or the path below), and a server lists the shares it reports over SMB; a share opens as a directory through the same client as smb://. To reach a server that is not in the list yet, type its name as a path in the Network drive (/nas); a server that needs a login is opened by its smb://user:password@host address instead. The Network view also has an address, network:// (or network://server/share/folder), which works in the command line, a bookmark and the go-to dialog; on Windows a plain \\server\share path works as well.