Any suggestions? I've given up on the ftpd that came with OS X - every time I try to login with anonymous (after setting up anonymous ftp as i did in 10.1.x), I get 550 Can't set guest permisions. The log file seems to indicate it's having a problem chroot'ing to /Users/ftp, which makes little sense.

Anyhow, after installing proftpd everything is working great.. so long as I run FTP on a port besides port 21. On 21, the proftpd daemon won't even load. I don't have ftpd running, so it shouldn't be taking up the port...

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I've done everything explained in this hint and the previous to set up proFTPd instead of the mac os x built-in ftp. I'm running jaguar. But everytime i try to connect, even in local, I have the same borring message : The server could not be found. But It is started in the preferences panes, and i've replaced what should be replaced in associatedd files... I use a basic configuration file... I don't find any problem... Anybody has an idea ?
Thanks a lot.

sugardaddy

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I finally got it working by using the line "server_args = -c /etc/proftpd.conf" in my "/etc/xinetd.d/ftp" file.

Hope that helps.

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It seems that this no longer works in 10.2.2. I don't know what the problem is, as I don't see anything drastic that has changed (i have Journaling file system enabled, and I am not next to my G4 to test it with it off).

While I am trying to track down what is going on (or anybody else) you can run proftpd in 'standalone' mode by editing the proftpd.conf and change the server type to 'standalone', and running the server from the command line (a script in StartupItems should do this on startup).

One thing to remember is that proftpd will want to create a PID file while running in standalone mode in '/usr/local/var'. This folder doesn't exist by default, so you have to create it and give it the appropriate permissions (you can change the group proftpd runs as by editing the proftpd.conf file) I would create a group just for the server (using Netinfo) and make the folder writeable by this group.

This method has the disadvantage that it cannot be controled from the Preference Pane, so remember to turn ftp sharing off here.

In the meantime, does anyone have any idea why this would stop working in 10.2.2? I am wondering if some paths have been left out of xinetd (just guessing) I will do some reckless experimentation and post anything I find.

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I have the same problem with 10.2.2 ... I can't launch proftpd by turning on FTP in the Server Settings GUI - I'm using OS X Server 10.2.2. I can however run it in standalone mode from the command line. If I figure it out I'll let you know. Thanks for your tips on proftpd. I like this app much better than Apple's built-in configuration for ftp.

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It looks like poster 'vui' sussed it... according to this post here, 10.2.2 doesn't like empty server_args statements in the configuration file. He (or she) suggested deleting this line, however you can add an arguement as well and all will work fine. I added "-c /usr/local/etc/proftpd.conf" as suggested in a previous reply and it work out groovy. That's what I get for being lazy about configuration.

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I had the same kind of issue and I bypassed it by replacing ftpd in /usr/libexec by proftpd renamed to ftpd.
It's like a "tank" method but it runs.
For the argument I simply removed it so the ftp file in xinetd.d looks like :
service ftp
{
disable = no
socket_type = stream
wait = no
user = root
server = /usr/libexec/ftpd
groups = yes
flags = REUSE
}
The only issue remaining is the syslog which tell me this error when I start the share via the panel :
Dec 30 17:40:52 localhost xinetd[643]: Error reading included directory: /etc/xinetd.d [line=11]

Apart this, everything is OK and and may ftp server accept now passives connections on designed ports ;-)

bye
Marvine

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I get 2 error messages:
- error: GID of -1 not allowed
- Fatal: Group: Unknown group 'nogroup'.

I understand what the problem with the unknown group, but I don't know about the GID bit. Anyone know what that means??? Might be the Server argument, since I haven't restarted yet after changing it. Btw, I got this message by typing in proftpd in the terminal.

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For some reason, I can't get past "logging in" in IE. I'm convinced it's my config file. When I use terminal, I get "421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection." I tryed multiple solutions on this forum but no dice. As reported before, I get
- error: GID of -1 not allowed
- Fatal: Group: Unknown group 'nogroup'.
when I call up proftpd in terminal. I took out any mention of nogroup and I think I fixed the GID of -1, but not sure. I just want to set up a anonymous ftp server with files at /users/ftp

HELP!

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Thanks to everyone who contributed to me being able to access my ftp server in my internal network. Now I want to access it outside my NAT network (Airport). I noticed something about Mascareding the address in proftpd.org, but talks about the OS needing to changed also, so I need more help. I know I need to add Mascarade the IP address to the config file but what else??? When I just add the Mascarade IP to the config file, it doesn't work at all!

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I setup proftpd on linux many times and figured it would be a breeze with os x. I ran into a snag. After searching through documents, I cam accross an article that says to use root and wheel for user and group in the proftpd.conf file. After doing so, the daemon worked fine. Prior to that, I had nobody and nogroup and it didn't work, even though the accounts existed on my system.

I'm not sure about security using root and wheel, but thats the only way it worked for me. Suggestions welcomed.



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Hello

Did anyone manage to make this work on Panther (10.3)? I tried installing proftpd 1.2.8p and got it to work only partially. I did set user to root and group to wheel. Pretty much I used the same configuration that worked on 10.2. Anyway, the server works but I always get a "login incorrect" message no matter what user I try. Any suggestions?

Thanks

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I got 1.2.9 working with 10.3.3.

What I did...

Change the flags varaible in /etc/xinet.d/ftp to "REUSE" thus dropping the IPv6 stuff.

Also I setup my proftpd.conf with the ServerType inetd and user/group root/wheel. Lastly I am using my own authentication file /etc/proftpd.passwd.


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