Problem using ftp

[Theodore Kilgore <kilgota banach math auburn edu>]

Running MC, using Slackware-64-current package mc-4.8.1~86_64-1.

I wanted to do some updates yesterday evening, so I connected to 
ftp.osuosl.org in the right panel of the mc display. I could move files 
just fine, after highlighting them. But when I want to move an entire 
directory (and its contents, of course), then something strange and 
untoward happens: 

For no apparent reason and with no instigation on my part, the display on 
the right panel (at the remote site) _opens_ the directory _after_ the 
copying has taken place. That is, the display for the remote site dives 
down _into_ the directory _after_ it has been successfully copied. This is 
not very nice, but something even worse happens after that. Namely, that 
an attempt to cd back out of the directory takes one to the directory 
above, and all the directories at the same level as the one copied have 
disappeared. To explain better what I mean, here is an example:

Go to ftp.osuosl.org and go to the directory 
pub/slackware/slackware64-current. Then put the highlighting on the 
directory "patches" which is quite small and therefore good for testing 
this. Hit F5 to copy it to the other panel. The copying is successful, but 
then the display jumps into the directory and you see its contents, namely

/..
CHECKSUMS.md5       531May 18  2010 
CHECKSUM~md5.asc    198May 18  2010
FILE_LIST           575May 18  2010
MANIFEST.bz2         14May 18  2010
PACKAGES.TXT        224May 18  2010

Well, as I said, that is not so bad, though frustrating. But then put the 
highlight on top of /.. and you are supposed to be back at the previous 
level. and you ought to see several other directories

/..              UP--DIRApr 27  2011
/extra              4096Aug  9 22:47
/isolinux           4096Aug 15 02:45
/kernels              68Aug 13 23:37
/pasture             117Jul 22 20:02
/patches             104May 18  2010                                    
/slackware64        4096Aug 16 04:21                                    
/source             4096Aug 16 04:23                                    
/testing             132Mar 14 09:16                                    
/usb-and-~tallers    114Aug 15 02:45

and some files. These directories and files are the files and the 
subdirectories in the parent directory slackware64-current.

But what you see instead of this is that the parent directory is 
slackware64-current (as was intended, but the contents of this parent 
directory are listed instead of what is supposed to be there, as 

/..
CHECKSUMS.md5       531May 18  2010
CHECKSUM~md5.asc    198May 18  2010
FILE_LIST           575May 18  2010
MANIFEST.bz2         14May 18  2010
PACKAGES.TXT        224May 18  2010

If one wishes to copy any other subdirectory of slackware64-current as the 
next operation, the only thing to do is to kill the ftp connection and 
reconnect. The quickest way to do this, of course, is to kill MC, then to 
restart it, and then to reconnect. Other parts of the directory tree of 
the remote site, once one climbs out of slackware64-current, are perfectly 
OK for navigation. But that is no help if one was not interested in those 
other parts of the directory tree of the remote site, of course. So as I 
said in order to copy anything else from slackware64-current the only 
thing which addresses the problem is to kill the connection and reconnect.

Thus, I would ask whether or not this situation is known, whether it is a 
peculiar bug of the MC release which is in Slackware64-current and has 
already been fixed, or what. In short, is this a current bug in MC, or is 
some other party to blame for it?

Theodore Kilgore