FTP_PASSIVE_MODE stumper

[Greg Groth]

Paul Lathrop wrote:
> I've been banging my head against this for 2 hours.
> 
> My network lives behind an OpenBSD firewall which uses ftp-proxy to 
> allow active mode FTP connections out to the world. Unfortunately, 
> passive mode FTP just does not work in our current firewall configuration.
> 
> I'm trying to install some ports on my shiny new FreeBSD 6.1 server. 
> Unfortunately, the fetch operations time out because they are attempting 
> to use passive mode FTP. So, I consult the man pages and discover that 
> fetch obeys the FTP_PASSIVE_MODE environment variable. I check the 
> environment and see that FTP_PASSIVE_MODE=YES! Excellent! The fetch(3) 
> man page says I need to set this to 'no', so I do so and procedd to 
> install...
> 
> Still times out.
> 
> Hrm. Okay, try 'NO'. No dice. Try removing it from login.conf, running 
> cap_mkdb, and logging out then back in. Nope, that still doesn't do it. 
> Try *changing* it to NO in login.conf, running cap_mkdb, logging out and 
> back in. Nope.
> 
> Set it by hand in the shell. Nope.
> 
> Set it in /etc/make.conf. Still not working.
> 
> The only conclusion I can come to is that fetch does not, in fact, obey 
> this environment variable.
> 
> So, how does one install software from ports in this environment?
> 
> Any pointers would be much appreciated.
> 
> Regards,
> Paul Lathrop

Sorry, I don't have an answer.  I just wanted to chime in and state that 
I have the same issue behind a pfsense firewall.  I have an environment 
at home in which I have a single IP address and use port forwarding for 
my one server, and have no issues.  However at work, I have 3 sitting 
behind a pfsense firewall using CARP for address translation, and fetch 
in passive mode will not work.  I end up having to use an FTP client, 
and SCPing the files to the server, and then moving them to 
/usr/ports/distfiles.  Any help would be much appreciated.

Greg Groth