This tutorial will walk you through installing the command-line FTP client commonly known as 'ftp'. This application is available by default on most distributions with a standard install but because we use a minimal install it must be installed separately.

If you're trying to install an ftp server you should look at this guide instead.

This tutorial assumes that you have gone through the Ubuntu Setup Guide and are familiar with the Linux environment and the utilities used within it.

Update Repositories

First we will need to make sure that our repositories are updated. To do this type the following command:

# sudo aptitude update

You will see several links scroll across the screen as they download.

Installing ftp

Next we need to install the ftp application. To do this run the following command:

# sudo aptitude install ftp

You will be prompted to install the application, press Y.

If instead you get a message that no packages will be installed, it means the ftp package is already installed and you're good to go.