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Name

ftpd - DARPA Internet File Transfer Protocol server

Synopsis

ftpd [ -d ] [ -l ] [ -ttimeout ] [ -Tmaxtimeout ] [ -a ] [ -A ] [ -L ] [ -i ] [ -I ] [ -o ] [ -O ]

Description

Ftpd is the DARPA Internet File Transfer Protocol server process. The server uses the TCP protocol and listens at the port specified in the ``ftp'' service specification; see services(5) .

If the -d option is specified, debugging information is written to the syslog.

If the -l option is specified, each ftp session is logged in the syslog.

The ftp server will timeout an inactive session after 15 minutes. If the -t option is specified, the inactivity timeout period will be set to timeout seconds. A client may also request a different timeout period; the maximum period allowed may be set to timeout seconds with the -T option. The default limit is 2 hours.

If the -a option is specified, the use of the ftpaccess(5) configuration file is enabled.

If the -A option is specified, use of the ftpaccess(5) configuration file is disabled.

If the -L option is specified, commands sent to the ftpd(8) server will be logged to the syslog. The -L option is overridden by the use of the ftpaccess(5) file. If the -L flag is used, command logging will be on by default as soon as the ftp server is invoked. This will cause the server to log all USER commands, which if a user accidentally enters a password for that command instead of the username, will cause passwords to be logged via syslog.

If the -i option is specified, files received by the ftpd(8) server will be logged to the xferlog(5) . The -i option is overridden by the use of the ftpaccess(5) file.

If the -o option is specified, files transmitted by the ftpd(8) server will be logged to the syslog. The -o option is overridden by the use of the ftpaccess(5) file.

The ftp server currently supports the following ftp requests; case is not distinguished.

Request
Description
ABOR
abort previous command
ACCT
specify account (ignored)
ALLO
allocate storage (vacuously)
APPE
append to a file
CDUP
change to parent of current working directory
CWD
change working directory
DELE
delete a file
HELP
give help information
LIST
give list files in a directory (``ls -lgA'')
MKD
make a directory
MDTM
show last modification time of file
MODE
specify data transfer mode
NLST
give name list of files in directory
NOOP
do nothing
PASS
specify password
PASV
prepare for server-to-server transfer
PORT
specify data connection port
PWD
print the current working directory
QUIT
terminate session
REST
restart incomplete transfer
RETR
retrieve a file
RMD
remove a directory
RNFR
specify rename-from file name
RNTO
specify rename-to file name
SITE
non-standard commands (see next section)
SIZE
return size of file
STAT
return status of server
STOR
store a file
STOU
store a file with a unique name
STRU
specify data transfer structure
SYST
show operating system type of server system
TYPE
specify data transfer type
USER
specify user name
XCUP
change to parent of current working directory (deprecated)
XCWD
change working directory (deprecated)
XMKD
make a directory (deprecated)
XPWD
print the current working directory (deprecated)
XRMD
remove a directory (deprecated)

The following non-standard or UNIX specific commands are supported by the SITE request.

Request
Description
UMASK
change umask. E.g. SITE UMASK 002
IDLE
set idle-timer. E.g. SITE IDLE 60
CHMOD
change mode of a file. E.g. SITE CHMOD 755 filename
HELP
give help information. E.g. SITE HELP
NEWER
list files newer than a particular date
MINFO
like SITE NEWER, but gives extra information
GROUP
request special group access. E.g. SITE GROUP foo
GPASS
give special group access password. E.g. SITE GPASS bar
EXEC
execute a program. E.g. SITE EXEC program params

The remaining ftp requests specified in Internet RFC 959 are recognized, but not implemented. MDTM and SIZE are not specified in RFC 959, but will appear in the next updated FTP RFC.

The ftp server will abort an active file transfer only when the ABOR command is preceded by a Telnet «Interrupt Process» (IP) signal and a Telnet «Synch» signal in the command Telnet stream, as described in Internet RFC 959. If a STAT command is received during a data transfer, preceded by a Telnet IP and Synch, transfer status will be returned.

Ftpd interprets file names according to the ``globbing'' conventions used by csh(1) . This allows users to utilize the metacharacters ``*?[]{}~''.

Ftpd authenticates users according to four rules.

1)
The user name must be in the password data base, /etc/passwd, and not have a null password. In this case a password must be provided by the client before any file operations may be performed.
2)
The user name must not appear in the file /etc/ftpusers.
3)
The user must have a standard shell returned by getusershell(3) .
4)
If the user name is ``anonymous'' or ``ftp'', an anonymous ftp account must be present in the password file (user ``ftp''). In this case the user is allowed to log in by specifying any password (by convention this is given as the client host's name).

In the last case, ftpd takes special measures to restrict the client's access privileges. The server performs a chroot(2) command to the home directory of the ``ftp'' user. In order that system security is not breached, it is recommended that the ``ftp'' subtree be constructed with care; the following rules are recommended.

~ftp) Make the home directory owned by ``ftp'' and unwritable by anyone.

~ftp/bin)
Make this directory owned by the super-user and unwritable by anyone. The program ls(1) must be present to support the list command. This program should have mode 111.

~ftp/etc)
Make this directory owned by the super-user and unwritable by anyone. The files passwd(5) and group(5) must be present for the ls command to be able to produce owner names rather than numbers. The password field in passwd is not used, and should not contain real encrypted passwords. These files should be mode 444.

~ftp/pub)
Make this directory mode 777 and owned by ``ftp''. Users should then place files which are to be accessible via the anonymous account in this directory.

General Ftp Extensions

There are some extensions to the FTP server such that if the user specifies a filename (when using a RETRIEVE command) such that:

True Filename Specified Filename Action

-------------
---------------------------------------------------- <filename>.Z <filename> Decompress file before transmitting <filename> <filename>.Z Compress <filename> before transmitting
<filename>
<filename>.tar Tar <filename> before transmitting
<filename>
<filename>.tar.Z Tar and compress <filename> before transmitting

Also, the FTP server will attempt to check for valid email addresses and chide the user if he doesn't pass the test. For users whose FTP client will hang on «long replies» (i.e. multiline responses), using a dash as the first character of the password will disable the server's lreply() function.

The FTP server can also log all file transmission and reception, keeping the following information for each file transmission that takes place.

Mon Dec 3 18:52:41 1990 1 wuarchive.wustl.edu 568881 /files.lst.Z a _ o a chris@wugate.wustl.edu ftp 0 *

%.24s %d %s %d %s %c %s %c %c %s %s %d %s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1 current time in the form DDD MMM dd hh:mm:ss YYYY 2 transfer time in seconds
3 remote host name
4 file size in bytes
5 name of file 6 transfer type (a>scii, b>inary)
7 special action flags (concatenated as needed):

C
file was compressed
U
file was uncompressed
T
file was tar'ed
_
no action taken 8 file was sent to user (o>utgoing) or received from user (i>ncoming) 9 accessed anonymously (r>eal, a>nonymous) -- mostly for FTP 10 local username or, if guest, ID string given (anonymous FTP password) 11 service name ('ftp', other) 12 authentication method (bitmask) 0 none
1
RFC931 Authentication 13 authenticated user id (if available, `*' otherwise)

See Also

Bugs

The anonymous account is inherently dangerous and should avoided when possible.

The server must run as the super-user to create sockets with privileged port numbers. It maintains an effective user id of the logged in user, reverting to the super-user only when binding addresses to sockets. The possible security holes have been extensively scrutinized, but are possibly incomplete.


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