Frequently Asked Questions about wu-ftpd, with answers

This article contains the answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) concerning the wu-ftpd software. To ask questions about wu-ftpd, subscribe to the mailinglist and ask there. To submit editorial comments or new entries send email to: faq@wu-ftpd.org. If you wish to get the latest version of this file, it is available as

Via WWW : <URL:http://www.wu-ftpd.org/wu-ftpd-faq.html>

Via FTP : <URL:ftp://ftp.wu-ftpd.org/pub/wu-ftpd/wu-ftpd-faq.txt>

And via E-mail : Send an e-mail to wu-ftpd-faq@wu-ftpd.org with as subject line send faq.

Comments : this version is still lacking with details about certain operating systems. Comments about those are welcome.

  1. Contents of this FAQ

    1. Contents of this FAQ
    2. What is this document
      1. What is the intended audience for this document

    3. What is wu-ftpd itself ?
      1. What is the license status for wu-ftpd ?
      2. How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to the mailing lists ?
      3. Is this list archived anywhere ?
      4. What are related documents ?
      5. Are there any alternatives ?

    4. Where do I get the wu-ftpd ?
      1. Where do I get the latest version ?
      2. What were the VR patches for wu-ftpd ?
      3. What is BeroFTPD ?
      4. PGP verification of the package fails!

    5. Compiling the wu-ftpd
      1. cc complains about strunames, typenames, modenames, .. being undeclared.
      2. I don't have yacc
      3. wu-ftpd doesn't 'see' that users are in multiple groups.
      4. I get "conflicting types for `realpath'"
      5. wu-ftpd doesn't use the shadow passwords on my Linux machine.
      6. It doesn't compile at all on newer Linux installs. The error is :
      7. The timezone in the xferlog is wrong
      8. The timezone in the ls output is wrong
      9. Digital Unix doesn't log commands after an anonymous user logs in
      10. install fails with 'install: ..'
      11. Digital Unix (The Unix Formerly Known As OSF/1) and Enhanced C2 security,
      12. It doesn't compile at all on Digital Unix, errors about struct timeval
      13. What should I do to be able to use wu-ftpd in a HP-UX 10.01
      14. What should I do for HP-UX 10.10 to make it work completely.
      15. Installation notes for HP-UX 10.20.
      16. I want to compile for IPv6

    6. Special compilation options/fixes
      1. I need to authenticate real users via AFS
      2. I need to use S/KEY authorisation
      3. I want to block certain default addresses (IE30User@, mozilla@)

    7. Installing the wu-ftpd
      1. Command-line options for wu-ftpd
      2. Testing on a different port number then ftp:21
      3. Not all command line parameters seem to be used by wu-ftpd
      4. How do I use the package file WUFtpd250.wu-ftpd-2.5.0.SPARC.ULTRASparc.2.5.1.2.5.pkg.tar ?

    8. Are there year 2000 issues with wu-ftpd?
    9. The ftpaccess file
      1. Some files (banners, etc) don't get shown to anonymous users.
      2. What is the exact format of the <times> parameter in the "limit"
      3. What tools are there to check the configuration
      4. Why does %M produce (Max unlimited) on the login banner

    10. Programs (ls, gzip, tar) work for real users, not for anonymous users, giving errors like 425 Can't create data socket (0.0.0.0,20): Bad file number or simply no output.
      1. Solaris
      2. Building a statically linked ls for Solaris fails
      3. Linux
      4. Dec OSF
      5. SunOS4.1.x
      6. AIX
      7. IRIX (5.3, 6.2)
      8. SCO Unix
      9. BSD vs SVR4 ls
      10. It worked, until I upgraded the operating system.

    11. Running wu-ftpd
      1. ftpd allways says "221 Server shutting down. Goodbye."
      2. Anonymous ftp works fine, but real users are denied access
      3. ftpconversions doesn't work
      4. On-the-fly compression works, on-the-fly tarring, but not both.
      5. I want to use zip compression (InfoZip)
      6. I want a real user to be able to access the host only via ftp, not via telnet
      7. Somebody uploaded a file with a weird name
      8. I want anonymous users to be able to upload files, but in the most secure manner possible
      9. The upload clause doesn't work with directories as it used to.
      10. The default umask used when a real user uploads a file is wrong
      11. I heard something about 'SITE EXEC' having a security hole
      12. How do I make reports more readable ?
      13. Incoming file transfers fail with SunOS and an NFS mounted incoming
      14. Normal ftp clients work, Netscape ftp's fail. So, passive mode doesn't work.
      15. I made a symbolic link within the anonymous tree and it doesn't work for the anonymous users.
      16. I want to redirect anonymous users to another machine
      17. ftpd stops accepting connections when a lot of connections come in.
      18. Running wu-ftpd on a *large* site
      19. Only the first 8 characters of the anonymous username are recieved by the server.
      20. wu-ftpd fails with '500 Illegal PORT Command' under AIX 4.3 or Solaris 8
      21. I want to host multiple ftp servers on the same machine
      22. I just upgraded and now nobody can log in. It worked before.
      23. I get disconnected directly from the ftp server.
      24. Mirror breaks with wu-ftpd 2.6.0.
      25. Logins to the ftp server take a long time, after that things run smooth
      26. ls doesn't show anything except files. It does not show directories and links
      27. My client hangs at the end of a transfer
      28. Sometimes ftpd stops working and inetd logs 'ftp/tcp server failing (looping), service terminated'
      29. I can't login, in the syslog is: get passwd; pwdb: request not recognized

    12. Other things
      1. Where is the FTP protocol documented ?
      2. How can I make my ftp-archive accessible by Email (ftpmail) ?

    13. Credits/miscellanious
      1. How do I contact the WU-FTPD Development team
      2. I have a correction / new feature, how do I submit it for the WU-FTPD Development team's consideration
      3. I have what I believe to be a critical security problem with the daemon and don't want to talk about it via email. Can I call someone on the telephone

  2. What is this document

    This is the FAQ (frequently asked questions) for newer versions of wu-ftpd as maintained at ftp.wu-ftpd.org. This document is an addition to the manpages of wu-ftpd which are part of the installation and available online as <URL:http://www.wu-ftpd.org/man/>.

    Answer number one is: Update to the latest version (at this moment: 2.6.1). A lot of problems have been fixed, including security problems.

    Note: The various addresses used in this document are for contacting the authors on subjects mentioned in this document. Using these addresses for sending unsolicited Email is forbidden.

    Again: please update to the latest version for security purposes!

    1. What is the intended audience for this document

      This document (and wu-ftpd in general) need a general knowledge of Unix system management aimed at the Unix version you are trying to install wu-ftpd on. Subjects like user management, password management, filesystem management, changing access settings and chroot environments are prerequisite knowledge. Reviews of books about Unix in general (and other books) on The Virtual Bookcase at <URL:http://www.virtualbookcase.com/>

  3. What is wu-ftpd itself ?

    Wuarchive-ftpd, more affectionately known as wu-ftpd, is a replacement ftp daemon for Unix systems developed at Washington University (*.wustl.edu) by Bryan D. O'Connor. (who is no longer working on it or supporting it!) wu-ftpd is the most popular ftp daemon on the Internet, used on many anonymous ftp sites all around the world.

    1. What is the license status for wu-ftpd ?

      The correct answer to this is in the the 'LICENSE' file which comes with the source tree and is available online as <URL:http://www.wu-ftpd.org/license.html>

    2. How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to the mailing lists ?

      Users of WU-FTPD are encouraged to switch to the mailing lists hosted at wu-ftpd.org. The following lists are available : wuftpd-announce Announcements concerning WU-FTPD. This is the ONLY announcement list for WU-FTPD. The list is open subscription, only members of the WU-FTPD Development Group may post. Traffic on this list is very low. Traffic should be signed using the development group's PGP signing key.
      wuftpd-dev General discussion list for developers. The list is open subscription, only subscribed users may post. Traffic on this list is generally low, but can be high occasionally.
      wuftpd-doc General discussion list for documentation writers. The list is open subscription, only subscribed members may post. Traffic on this list is generally low but can be high occasionally.
      wuftpd-questions General support and discussion. This is the list to use if you have questions concerning compiling, installing or configuring WU-FTPD. The list is open subscription. Anyone may post. Traffic on this list is generally high (although there are some medium-traffic days occassionally).
      To subscribe, send a mail message to Majordomo@wu-ftpd.org with a body of 

      subscribe listname
end

    3. Is this list archived anywhere ?

      The old list from wustl.edu is archived from June 1994 until recent, reachable via WWW at <URL:http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/mail-archive>, and via ftp at <URL:ftp://ftp.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/mail-archive>. The search page is at <URL:http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/mail-archive/search.html> This archive is maintained by Kent Landfield (kent@landfield.com).

      The lists from wu-ftpd.org are available via Anonymous IMAP. Connect to mail.wu-ftpd.org using IMAP (TCP port 143) and give 'anonymous' as your username and your e-mail address as password. If your mail client cannot see the folder list, give the listname to access that list's archive.

    4. What are related documents ?

      The RFC's that describe the FTP protocol are rfc959 and rfc1579. RFC's relating to wu-ftpd are available from <URL:http://www.wu-ftpd.org/rfc/> Another possible location to get these is : <URL:http://info.internet.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc959.txt> <URL:http://info.internet.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc1579.txt> or <URL:http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc959.txt> <URL:http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1579.txt>

      Documents on specific parts of the configuration or specific uses of wu-ftpd:

      Kent Landfield maintains a resource center to collect all wu-ftpd related links at <URL:http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/>

      Darci Chapman maintains the Solaris/wu-ftpd howto guide at <URL:http://www.wildheart.org/wu-ftpd/>

      The manpage for wu-ftpd can be viewed online at <URL:http://www.academ.com/cgi-bin/bsdi-man?proto=1.1&apropos=0&msection=local&query=ftpd> with the manpage for ftpaccess in <URL:http://www.academ.com/cgi-bin/bsdi-man?proto=1.1&query=ftpaccess&msection=5&apropos=0>

      The Academ wu-ftpd pages at <URL:http://www.academ.com/academ/wu-ftpd/>.

      'ANONYMOUS FTP CONFIGURATION GUIDELINES'

      A set of guidelines from CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) about setting up anonymous ftp.

      <URL:ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/anonymous_ftp_config>

      <URL:ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/anonymous_ftp_abuses>

      'How to set up a secure ftp server'

      A file describing how to set up anonymous ftp in general in a secure way, avoiding misuse.

      <URL:ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/sun-info/sun-faq/FAQs/SettingUpSecureFTP.faq>

      'guestgroup howto'

      A document describing the set up of guestgroups in the wu-ftpd server. At this moment a seperate document from this document.

      <URL:ftp://ftp.fni.com/pub/wu-ftpd/guest-howto>

      A document describing virtual ftp servers

      <URL:http://www.westnet.com/providers/multi-wu-ftpd.txt>

      Ftpaccess on virtual ftp servers

      <URL:ftp://ftp.meme.com/pub/software/wu-ftpd-2.4.2/README.ALT.FTPACCESS>

      upload.configuration.HOWTO

      <URL:ftp://ftp.wu-ftpd.org/pub/wu-ftpd/upload.configuration.HOWTO> How to set up the upload configuration for 2.4.2 Beta 18 VR14 and higher (including 2.6.1).

      Read these. Something like 

      #> telnet xxx.yyy.nl
Trying XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX ...
Connected to xxx.yyy.nl.
Escape character is '^]'.

SunOS UNIX (xxx.yyy.nl)

login: ftp
Last login: Sat Oct 28 22:11:36 from xxxxxx.xxx.xxx.nl
SunOS Release 4.1.3 (HSIS_X25) #1: Wed Apr 7 14:19:15 MET DST 1993
%>
      should not happen.

      There are also some books discussing setting up anonymous FTP.

      The book links link to the right book on the amazon.com website.

      Reviews of more books about Unix in general (and other books) on The Virtual Bookcase at <URL:http://www.virtualbookcase.com/>

    5. Are there any alternatives ?

      Troll Ftpd, a free ftpserver, available from <URL:http://www.troll.no/freebies/ftpd.html>

      FileDrive, a commercial fileserver which needs it's own clients, available from <URL:http://www.filedrive.com/>

      NcFTPd server, commercial server (free for educational domains), available from <URL:http://www.ncftpd.com/>

      ProFTPD, a free ftpserver (GPL), available from <URL:http://www.proftpd.org/>

      ftpd-BSD, a port of the OpenBSD ftpd, available from <URL:http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/madore/programs/#prog_ftpd-BSD>

      Net::FTPServer, written in Perl, available from <URL:http://ftpserver.bibliotech.net/>

  4. Where do I get the wu-ftpd ?

    The original wu-ftpd home is wuarchive.wustl.edu, but at this moment wuarchive no longer supports or maintains wu-ftpd. The correct location at this moment for wu-ftpd is ftp://ftp.wu-ftpd.org/pub/wu-ftpd/ (please use a real ftp client to access this).

    Mirror sites:

  • Other things
    1. Where is the FTP protocol documented ?
    2. How can I make my ftp-archive accessible by Email (ftpmail) ?

  • Credits/miscellanious
    1. How do I contact the WU-FTPD Development team
    2. I have a correction / new feature, how do I submit it for the WU-FTPD Development team's consideration
    3. I have what I believe to be a critical security problem with the daemon and don't want to talk about it via email. Can I call someone on the telephone

  • What is this document

    This is the FAQ (frequently asked questions) for newer versions of wu-ftpd as maintained at ftp.wu-ftpd.org. This document is an addition to the manpages of wu-ftpd which are part of the installation and available online as <URL:http://www.wu-ftpd.org/man/>.

    Answer number one is: Update to the latest version (at this moment: 2.6.1). A lot of problems have been fixed, including security problems.

    Note: The various addresses used in this document are for contacting the authors on subjects mentioned in this document. Using these addresses for sending unsolicited Email is forbidden.

    Again: please update to the latest version for security purposes!

    1. What is the intended audience for this document

      This document (and wu-ftpd in general) need a general knowledge of Unix system management aimed at the Unix version you are trying to install wu-ftpd on. Subjects like user management, password management, filesystem management, changing access settings and chroot environments are prerequisite knowledge. Reviews of books about Unix in general (and other books) on The Virtual Bookcase at <URL:http://www.virtualbookcase.com/>

  • What is wu-ftpd itself ?

    Wuarchive-ftpd, more affectionately known as wu-ftpd, is a replacement ftp daemon for Unix systems developed at Washington University (*.wustl.edu) by Bryan D. O'Connor. (who is no longer working on it or supporting it!) wu-ftpd is the most popular ftp daemon on the Internet, used on many anonymous ftp sites all around the world.

    1. What is the license status for wu-ftpd ?

      The correct answer to this is in the the 'LICENSE' file which comes with the source tree and is available online as <URL:http://www.wu-ftpd.org/license.html>

    2. How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to the mailing lists ?

      Users of WU-FTPD are encouraged to switch to the mailing lists hosted at wu-ftpd.org. The following lists are available : wuftpd-announce Announcements concerning WU-FTPD. This is the ONLY announcement list for WU-FTPD. The list is open subscription, only members of the WU-FTPD Development Group may post. Traffic on this list is very low. Traffic should be signed using the development group's PGP signing key.
      wuftpd-dev General discussion list for developers. The list is open subscription, only subscribed users may post. Traffic on this list is generally low, but can be high occasionally.
      wuftpd-doc General discussion list for documentation writers. The list is open subscription, only subscribed members may post. Traffic on this list is generally low but can be high occasionally.
      wuftpd-questions General support and discussion. This is the list to use if you have questions concerning compiling, installing or configuring WU-FTPD. The list is open subscription. Anyone may post. Traffic on this list is generally high (although there are some medium-traffic days occassionally).
      To subscribe, send a mail message to Majordomo@wu-ftpd.org with a body of 

      subscribe listname
end

    3. Is this list archived anywhere ?

      The old list from wustl.edu is archived from June 1994 until recent, reachable via WWW at <URL:http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/mail-archive>, and via ftp at <URL:ftp://ftp.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/mail-archive>. The search page is at <URL:http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/mail-archive/search.html> This archive is maintained by Kent Landfield (kent@landfield.com).

      The lists from wu-ftpd.org are available via Anonymous IMAP. Connect to mail.wu-ftpd.org using IMAP (TCP port 143) and give 'anonymous' as your username and your e-mail address as password. If your mail client cannot see the folder list, give the listname to access that list's archive.

    4. What are related documents ?

      The RFC's that describe the FTP protocol are rfc959 and rfc1579. RFC's relating to wu-ftpd are available from <URL:http://www.wu-ftpd.org/rfc/> Another possible location to get these is : <URL:http://info.internet.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc959.txt> <URL:http://info.internet.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc1579.txt> or <URL:http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc959.txt> <URL:http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1579.txt>

      Documents on specific parts of the configuration or specific uses of wu-ftpd:

      Kent Landfield maintains a resource center to collect all wu-ftpd related links at <URL:http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/>

      Darci Chapman maintains the Solaris/wu-ftpd howto guide at <URL:http://www.wildheart.org/wu-ftpd/>

      The manpage for wu-ftpd can be viewed online at <URL:http://www.academ.com/cgi-bin/bsdi-man?proto=1.1&apropos=0&msection=local&query=ftpd> with the manpage for ftpaccess in <URL:http://www.academ.com/cgi-bin/bsdi-man?proto=1.1&query=ftpaccess&msection=5&apropos=0>

      The Academ wu-ftpd pages at <URL:http://www.academ.com/academ/wu-ftpd/>.

      'ANONYMOUS FTP CONFIGURATION GUIDELINES'

      A set of guidelines from CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) about setting up anonymous ftp.

      <URL:ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/anonymous_ftp_config>

      <URL:ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/anonymous_ftp_abuses>

      'How to set up a secure ftp server'

      A file describing how to set up anonymous ftp in general in a secure way, avoiding misuse.

      <URL:ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/sun-info/sun-faq/FAQs/SettingUpSecureFTP.faq>

      'guestgroup howto'

      A document describing the set up of guestgroups in the wu-ftpd server. At this moment a seperate document from this document.

      <URL:ftp://ftp.fni.com/pub/wu-ftpd/guest-howto>

      A document describing virtual ftp servers

      <URL:http://www.westnet.com/providers/multi-wu-ftpd.txt>

      Ftpaccess on virtual ftp servers

      <URL:ftp://ftp.meme.com/pub/software/wu-ftpd-2.4.2/README.ALT.FTPACCESS>

      upload.configuration.HOWTO

      <URL:ftp://ftp.wu-ftpd.org/pub/wu-ftpd/upload.configuration.HOWTO> How to set up the upload configuration for 2.4.2 Beta 18 VR14 and higher (including 2.6.1).

      Read these. Something like 

      #> telnet xxx.yyy.nl
Trying XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX ...
Connected to xxx.yyy.nl.
Escape character is '^]'.

SunOS UNIX (xxx.yyy.nl)

login: ftp
Last login: Sat Oct 28 22:11:36 from xxxxxx.xxx.xxx.nl
SunOS Release 4.1.3 (HSIS_X25) #1: Wed Apr 7 14:19:15 MET DST 1993
%>
      should not happen.

      There are also some books discussing setting up anonymous FTP.

      The book links link to the right book on the amazon.com website.

      Reviews of more books about Unix in general (and other books) on The Virtual Bookcase at <URL:http://www.virtualbookcase.com/>

    5. Are there any alternatives ?

      Troll Ftpd, a free ftpserver, available from <URL:http://www.troll.no/freebies/ftpd.html>

      FileDrive, a commercial fileserver which needs it's own clients, available from <URL:http://www.filedrive.com/>

      NcFTPd server, commercial server (free for educational domains), available from <URL:http://www.ncftpd.com/>

      ProFTPD, a free ftpserver (GPL), available from <URL:http://www.proftpd.org/>

      ftpd-BSD, a port of the OpenBSD ftpd, available from <URL:http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/madore/programs/#prog_ftpd-BSD>

      Net::FTPServer, written in Perl, available from <URL:http://ftpserver.bibliotech.net/>

  • Where do I get the wu-ftpd ?

    The original wu-ftpd home is wuarchive.wustl.edu, but at this moment wuarchive no longer supports or maintains wu-ftpd. The correct location at this moment for wu-ftpd is ftp://ftp.wu-ftpd.org/pub/wu-ftpd/ (please use a real ftp client to access this).

    Mirror sites: