#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
# script by Stef Caunter April 2002
# checks file timestamps on remote hosts
# ftp is insecure! use only on lans and trusted networks
# don't leave this file world readable, eh?
# nice way to timestamp non-local files for webservers
# stef@caunter.ca
use Net::FTP;
use CGI ':standard';
use strict;
my ($file, $hostname, $username, $password, $ftp, @result, @details);
# fill in the blanks, eh?
$hostname = 'foo.bar.com';
$username = 'user';
$password = 'pass';
$file = '/path/to/file';
$ftp = Net::FTP->new($hostname);  #open an ftp connection to server
$ftp->login($username, $password); #login to the server 
@result = $ftp->dir("$file");
open (FH, ">fh")||die "eh, $!\n";
print FH "@result";
close FH;
open (FH, "fh")||die "eh, $!\n";
$_ = <FH>;
s/ +/ /g;
@details = split(/ /, $_);
print "$file last updated on $details[5] $details[6] at $details[7].\n";
`rm fh`;