CSCI 241 Sharing Labs

CSCI 241 Sharing Lab Files

Sending Labs to Your Partner's Account

During lab each week, you will be working with a partner, and programs you create during lab time will be saved in only one of the two accounts. At the end of lab, the other person may also want to have a copy of these program files. Because account access is protected, you cannot directly copy files from one student's account to another's.

For the following instructions, the student currently logged in will be referred to as "Student1", and the student who will receive a copy of the files will be referred to as "Student2". We will assume you want to copy all the files in the Lab01 directory. So that only one file need be transferred, the first part of these instructions explain how to create a zip file:

Student1:

  1. Make certain you are in the directory that contains the Lab01 directory. You may need to cd to the proper level (to go up one level, type cd ..).
  2. Enter one of these commands: This creates a zip (compressed) file containing all of the Lab01 directory contents, including any subdirectories that might exist. For security reasons, our campus email does not allow .zip files to be attached to email messages. If you wish to use RangerMail, you should name your file with the slightly different file extension (zipp). You'll rename it later.

Here are two sets of instructions (you can use either one) to transfer this zipped file to Student2. The first way is by attaching the file to an email message, and the second way is by using secure file transfer protocol (sftp).

  1. The following instructions use RangerMail as the email client (program). This method of file transfer is handy if Student2 wishes to get a copy of the lab files on their home computer. It is also a good way to send files to yourself to retrieve at home.

    1. Using Firefox, go to the UWP Logins page and log into RangerMail.
    2. Enter your partner's email address in the To box.
    3. Type "Lab01 Files" in the Subject box.
    4. Look for the attachments box under the message box. Choose Browse and select the Lab01.zipp file.
    5. Important! You must also click the Update button.
    6. Click on the Send Message button.
    7. Log out of RangerMail.

    To receive the lab files, Student2 should follow the procedure below:

    1. Log in to any lab machine.
    2. Using Firefox, go to the UWP Logins page and log into RangerMail.
    3. Select the message containing the attachment.
    4. On the Parts line you should see Lab01.zipp. Click on it.
    5. A window will appear asking if you want to save the file. Make certain "Save to Disk" is selected, then either save to your desktop (the default) or click on the Desktop button to navigate to the location where you wish to save the file.
    6. Rename the ".zipp" file as ".zip".
    7. Log out of RangerMail and close Firefox.

  2. The two students can also use secure file transfer protocol to transfer the zipped file directly into another lab account.
    1. Assume that the two lab partners are working on the machine named radish. Student1 types the following command on his/her machine:
      sftp student2@radish.cs.uwp.edu
      note: this assumes student2 is the person's login name
    2. A prompt will appear asking for Student2's password. Student2 should type this in, then press Enter.
    3. The terminal window doesn't look quite the same as a normal terminal window, but Student2 can still use Linux commands such as cd, ls, etc. to go to the location where she wants the copied file to be placed.
    4. Student2 then types
      put Lab01.zip
    5. The zipped file will then be placed in the proper location. Student2 is still logged in to her account at this time.
    6. Student2 should type exit to stop running sftp and return the machine to Student1's account.

    Student2 should log in as usual to her account, then:

    1. In a terminal window, cd to the directory where you saved the Lab01.zip file.
    2. Type the command unzip Lab01.zip to unzip the file.