Question

I’m using gedit with Ubuntu to edit files through FTP.
I have bookmarked a FTP connection with the Ubuntu integrated functionnality (Connect to Server)
I can use it to edit files with gedit, but I didn’t find a way to set any timeout or keep alive option.
So I have to refresh a Nautilus page on my bookmark to awake the connection each time.

What can I do ?

Answer 1

Using FileZilla is ok for a one-time transfer. The problem is that once you get used to how easy it is to edit files over a mounted network connection, applications like FileZilla are not an option. In fact, it would probably double or triple the time it takes to jump on a server and edit a quick file.

You are correct in saying there is no keep alive option in the gvfsd-ftp package. At least not one I can find. I did however find a simple bash script that would help out.

#!/bin/bash
while true 
do
    ls ~/.gvfs/ftp* &> /dev/null
    sleep 15 
done

No credit for me. I found this posted at launchpad

Just run it at startup. On ubuntu you can just chmod a+x and run it as a startup app. Since there is a sleep timer, obviously you wouldn’t want to run it multiple times in cron.