The ftp(1) man page has a paragraph in BUGS that warns against using ftp(1) with 4.2BSD servers. I doubt anyone would connect to an 4.2BSD server today, so is there any reason not to remove it?
Lawrence Index: ftp.1 =================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/ftp/ftp.1,v retrieving revision 1.87 diff -U4 -p -r1.87 ftp.1 --- ftp.1 19 Feb 2013 03:02:34 -0000 1.87 +++ ftp.1 19 Mar 2013 03:10:02 -0000 @@ -1730,19 +1730,8 @@ command appeared in .Sh BUGS Correct execution of many commands depends upon proper behavior by the remote server. .Pp -An error in the treatment of carriage returns -in the -.Bx 4.2 -ASCII-mode transfer code -has been corrected. -This correction may result in incorrect transfers of binary files -to and from -.Bx 4.2 -servers using the ASCII type. -Avoid this problem by using the binary image type. -.Pp In the recursive mode of .Ic mget , files and directories starting with whitespace are ignored because the list cannot be parsed any other way.