proftpd(8)

💖 NAME 💖

proftpd — Professional configurable, secure file transfer protocol server. Okay bestie, this is the proftpd(8) page from the System Manager's Manual, and it's lowkey about to be your new fave.

🐚 SYNOPSIS 🐚

proftpd [ -hlntv ] [ -c config-file ] [ -d debuglevel ] [ -p 0|1 ]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Okay so proftpd is the Professional File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server daemon. The server may be invoked by the Internet "super-server" inetd(8) each time a connection to the FTP service is made, or alternatively it can be run as a standalone daemon. Both vibes are valid.

Every successful and failed ftp(1) session is logged using syslog with a facility of LOG_FTP. 💅

Heads up bestie: LOG_FTP messages are not displayed by syslogd(8) by default, and may have to be enabled in syslogd(8)'s configuration file. Not me finding that out the hard way.

When proftpd is run in standalone mode and it receives a SIGHUP, then it will reread its configuration file. When run in standalone mode without the -n option, the main proftpd daemon writes its process ID to /run/proftpd/proftpd.pid to make it easy to know which process to SIGHUP. Very main character of it, honestly.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -h, --help — Display a short usage description, including all available options.
• -n, --nodaemon — Runs the proftpd process in standalone mode (must be configured as such in the configuration file), but does not background the process or disassociate it from the controlling tty. Additionally, all output (log or debug messages) are sent to stderr, rather than the syslog mechanism. Most often used with the -d option for debugging.
• -q, --quiet — Quiet mode; don't send logging information to standard error when running with the -n option. Logs are directed to the configured log output (syslog or logfile) instead.
• -v, --version — Displays the version number of ProFTPD to stdout.
• -D, --define parameter — Sets a configuration parameter which can be used with <IfDefine>...</IfDefine> sections in the configuration files to conditionally skip or process commands.
• -d, --debug debuglevel — Sets proftpd's internal debug level (normally 0). The debuglevel should be an integer value from 0 to 10, with higher numbers producing more debug output. Normally, debug messages are sent to syslog using the DEBUG facility, however if the -n option is used, all such output is sent to stderr.
• -c, --config config-file — Specifies an alternate config-file to be parsed at startup, rather than the default configuration file. The default configuration file is /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf.
• -N, --nocollision — Disables address/port collision checking.
• -S, --serveraddr — Specifies an IP address for the host machine, avoiding an DNS lookup of the hostname.
• -t, --configtest — Read the configuration file, report any syntax errors, and exit.
• -p, --persistent 0|1 — Disables (0) or enables (1) the default persistent password support, which is determined at configure time for each platform. This option only affects the default support, it can still be overridden at run-time with the PersistentPasswd directive.
• -l, --list — Lists all modules compiled into proftpd.
• -V, --settings — Displays various compile-time settings and exits.
• -X, --nofork — Debug mode (do not fork a session process); exits after one session.
• -4, --ipv4 — Support IPv4 functionality only, regardless of whether the --enable-ipv6 configure option was used.
• -6, --ipv6 — Support IPv6 connections and lookup of IPv6 addresses for server DNS names. This is enabled by default, if the --enable-ipv6 configure option is used.

🌸 FILES 🌸

• /usr/sbin/proftpd
• /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf
• /usr/bin/ftpwho
• /usr/bin/ftpcount
• /usr/bin/ftptop
• /usr/sbin/ftpshut
• /etc/ftpusers
• /var/log/xferlog
• /run/proftpd/proftpd.pid
• /run/proftpd/proftpd.scoreboard

👑 AUTHORS 👑

ProFTPD is written and maintained by a number of people, full credits can be found on http://www.proftpd.org/credits.html

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

proftpd.conf(5),inetd(8),ftp(1),ftpwho(1),ftpcount(1),ftpshut(8)

Full documentation on ProFTPD, including configuration and FAQs, is available at http://www.proftpd.org/

For help/support, try the ProFTPD mailing lists, detailed on http://www.proftpd.org/lists.html

Report bugs at http://bugs.proftpd.org/

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🌈 Sign-off: this iconic page comes from the System Manager's Manual, dated July 2000, and it is the proftpd(8) manual page — periodt. 💅