About anonymous ftp

[xujun]

I have read several topics about anonymous ftp,
If I copy file /usr/bin/ls to anonymous ftp home directory, a directory named /home/ftp/usr/lib is needed, and serveral files should be copied from /usr/lib to it.
But if I copy file /sbin/bin/ls to anonymous ftp home directory ,the directory /home/ftp/usr/lib isn't needed.

By the way, the documents of HP doesn't mention the directory /home/ftp/usr/lib. But it's wrong indeed.

Why?

Best Regards.

xujun

[Ian Dennison_1]

I always copy /sbin/ls to the appropriate usr/bin directory, as /usr/bin/ls does not appear to list files correctly when used within FTP.

Have never heard of security implications of using this version of 'ls', but that doesn't mean that there are not any?

Share and Enjoy! Ian

[Christopher Caldwell · Accepted solution]

Most documentation overstates what's needed in the chroot area. What you really need is /sbin/ls put in /bin of the chroot area.

The /lib stuff is if you use other binaries (compress, etc.) that require the library files. /sbin/ls doesn't depend on other libraries, it's statically linked.

The /etc/passwd, /etc/group stuff converts UIDs and GIDs in the chroot area into names, but the passwd file and the group file are not required to make anonymous ftp work.

For security, I err on the side of fewer apps (i.e. forget compress, forget the password file, etc.).

Here's a good link to set up guest access:

http://www.wu-ftpd.org/HOWTO/guest.HOWTO