problems with fetch

[Christopher Hobbs]

Greetings!

I posted this message to freebsd-stable, and a user suggested that this may be
the proper list.  I don't know how kosher reposts are, so feel free to scold me
if necessary.

The person that suggested this list also suggested that I try using 'fetch -p'. 
  That was the first thing I tried, as my initial thoughts were that it could be
a firewall issue.  Using 'fetch -p' returns the same error(s).

Thank you!
cmh

Original message:
I'm a first time poster, so forgive me if this is the wrong list or if I break
etiquette.

Fetch frequently fails for me when installing ports via "pkg_add" or directly
from the ports tree.  Regardless of the port I'm trying to add, it almost always
returns the following...

Using 'pkg_add':

--BEGIN SNIP--

root at SS002:~ 160:0# pkg_add -r xpdf
Error: FTP Unable to get
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-6.1-release/Latest/xpdf.tbz:


Syntax error in parameters or arguments
pkg_add: unable to fetch
'ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-6.1-release/Latest/xpdf.tbz'


by URL

--END SNIP--

Using ports directly:

--BEGIN SNIP--

root at SS002:/usr/ports/graphics/xpdf 163:0# make install clean
===>  Vulnerability check disabled, database not found
=> xpdf-3.01.tar.gz doesn't seem to exist in /usr/ports/distfiles/.
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.foolabs.com/pub/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ftp.foolabs.com/pub/xpdf/xpdf-3.01.tar.gz: Syntax error in
parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/TeX/CTAN/support/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/TeX/CTAN/support/xpdf/xpdf-3.01.tar.gz: Syntax
error in parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ctan.unsw.edu.au/tex-archive/support/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ctan.unsw.edu.au/tex-archive/support/xpdf/xpdf-3.01.tar.gz: Syntax
error in parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/support/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/support/xpdf/xpdf-3.01.tar.gz: Syntax
error in parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.kddlabs.co.jp/CTAN/support/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ftp.kddlabs.co.jp/CTAN/support/xpdf/xpdf-3.01.tar.gz: Syntax error
in parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ctan.tug.org/tex-archive/support/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ctan.tug.org/tex-archive/support/xpdf/xpdf-3.01.tar.gz: Syntax
error in parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/support/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/support/xpdf/xpdf-3.01.tar.gz: Syntax
error in parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from
http://ring.sakura.ad.jp/archives/text/CTAN/support/xpdf/.
xpdf-3.01.tar.gz                              100% of  585 kB  140 kBps
=> xpdf-3.01pl1.patch doesn't seem to exist in /usr/ports/distfiles/.
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.foolabs.com/pub/xpdf/.
fetch: ftp://ftp.foolabs.com/pub/xpdf/xpdf-3.01pl1.patch: Syntax error in
parameters or arguments
=> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/distfiles/.
fetch: ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/distfiles/xpdf-3.01pl1.patch:
Syntax error in parameters or arguments
=> Couldn't fetch it - please try to retrieve this
=> port manually into /usr/ports/distfiles/ and try again.
*** Error code 1

Stop in /usr/ports/graphics/xpdf.
root at SS002:/usr/ports/graphics/xpdf 164:1# 

--END SNIP--

I think the key error in all of this is the part that says "Syntax error in
parameters or arguments".  This only seems to happen with FTP sites as opposed
to HTTP sites.  I can retrieve said files with wget without a hitch, so I'm at a
loss as to what's going on.  I've frobbed nearly every knob that fetch has to no
avail.

I'm running 6.1:  FreeBSD SS002.admin.siloamsprings.com 6.1-RELEASE FreeBSD
6.1-RELEASE #0: Sun May  7 04:42:56 UTC 2006    
root at opus.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/SMP  i386


It's a fresh install, I'll probably update soon.  I had the same problem in 5.4.
 

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide!

cmh

-- 
Christopher M. Hobbs
Systems Technician, City of Siloam Springs
chobbs at siloamsprings.com, (479).524.5136