Subject: Anonymous user without the anonymous ID

From: Steve Dudas <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 11:11:37 -0400

Hi.. hope someone can help.. 
I have wu-ftpd 2.4 running fine.  I have a user
ID defined as "interim" this ID works just like
an anonymous ftp user except for one thing:

I would like the users password to be a E-mail address
just like anonymous ftp.  Right now I have to put in
a password.  All the permissions and the chroot are working
fine.

Thanks for any help..

Steve

-- 
*********************************************
* Steve Dudas   [email-masked]        *
* EDS Corporate Information Management      *
*********************************************

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From: Jerry Ponder <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 May 96 9:43:07 MST

Steve

I don't have a solution to your problem.  Rather, I would like to have
your "problem".

We would like to add a user that is like anonymous ftp but requires a
password.  In other words, the person can only ftp in and only get files
from that directory and can only move around within that directory (cannot
cd .. to a different disk for example.

Thanks

Jerry

> a password.  All the permissions and the chroot are working

-------------------------------------------
               Jerry Ponder
    Department of Physics and Astronomy
         Arizona State University
          Tempe, Az, 85287-1504
     Email:  [email-masked]
-------------------------------------------

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From: "W. James Showalter" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 13:42:51 -0400 (EDT)

Jerry,

I believe guestgroup was designed to provide just what
you describe below.  See the ftpaccess man page.

Jim

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From: Bob DeBula <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 15:44:29 -0400 (EDT)

> cd .. to a different disk for example.

I believe "guestgroup" in the ftpaccess file is that for which you are 
looking. Typically, we set up an account (in /etc/passwd) which looks like:

limited:*:1000:2001:FTP only account:/home/limited:/bin/false

then, there should be an entry "/etc/group" like:

onlyftp:*:2001

Finally, a line in "ftpaccess" defining the guest group:

guestgroup onlyftp

*Don't* add your personal account (or any account you wish to have
broader access than their own home directory) to the "localftp" group
(in "/etc/group"), or you'll find your FTP abilities similarly
restricted when FTPing into the machine. Hopefully, I haven't 
forgotten to mention any of the process. Oh yes, the "/etc/passwd"
entry also disallows shell login with "/bin/false" specified as the
shell (on most UNIXen, you'd need to add "/bin/false" to the
"/etc/shells" file -- in some cases you'd need to create  the file
and add the valid shells as well).

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From: Bob Dougherty <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 May 1996 14:46:57 -0400

Looks like no one answered Steve's original question on this thread: that
is, whether it's possible to have an account that's just like the
anonymous account in every respect, including the ability to accept *any*
e-mail address as a password.  However, the account would have a name
like 'acme_demo' instead of 'anonymous' or 'ftp'.

At least I think that was the original question.  Correct me if I'm wrong,
Steve...

I'd also like to do this.  It would be helpful to have multiple anonymous
accounts so that my company's separate lines of business could each offer
a public download area for its product demos and trials.  These separate
anonymous accounts could be truly independent of each other, and
independent of the company's "official anonymous" account.  Actually, we
don't have an official anonymous account, but when we do, the product
groups may still prefer their own accounts.

Anyway, having glimpsed at the source code, I think I know the answer: No. 
Except for the 'ftp' account, all accounts must use passwords from
/etc/passwd or the shadowed equivalent.  And the 'anonymous' username is
just an alias to the 'ftp' account. 

Wu-ftpd also won't accept a real user who has a null password,
even if the user can Telnet in without a password.

When all is said and done, wu-ftpd is probably doing The Right Thing 
here.  Of course, you could patch the source to make it do otherwise,
but that's a lonely and dangerous road to follow. 

-- 
Bob Dougherty                            Internet: [email-masked]
Institute for Scientific Information     Voice: (215) 386-0100, ext. 1161
3501 Market St., Philadelphia PA 19104   Fax:   (215) 386-6362