Subject: initfile (e.g. .ftprc) for wu-ftpd

From: Juergen Christoffel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 23:00:41 +0200

Some of our non-Unix users complain that uploading files to a wu-ftpd
server gives them files with permissions they don't like. While it is
possible to either start the server with "-u 002" or to issue a "SITE
UMASK 002" I think neither is an ideal solution.

So I thought a bit about it and have come up with the following idea:

   wu-ftpd could use a file where each regular (not anonymous) user
   could customize the server's environment, i.e. a .ftprc where one
   could set options like umask=002 or default_directory=~/uploads.

Before I go on and implement such a feature I would like to get some
feedback from other users of wu-ftpd. So if you think such a feature
might be useful or if you think such a feature might be useless or
even dangerous, let me know.

Cheers, JC

-- 
   E-Mail: [email-masked] or one of {ftp,news,[email-masked]
   GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology

   Superstition brings bad luck. -- Raymond Smullyan

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From: Michael Brennen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 16:33:35 -0500 (CDT)

`man ftpaccess`

Look for the upload directive.

   -- Michael

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From: Juergen Christoffel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 00:16:40 +0200

Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 16:33:35 -0500 (CDT)
   From: Michael Brennen <[email-masked]>

   `man ftpaccess`

Yes, I know about ftpaccess and use the upload directive regularly but
I don't see how that would solve the problem. While ftpacess is fine
for anonymous access or directories which I set up on a global scale,
it is cumbersome to maintain for some dozen users who want to change
directives every so often.

Just look at the following (real) problem: we have users who maintain
a web server and some files in the same web directory belong to group
A while others belong to group B and some more files should not be
group writable at all. Yes, we have subdirectories and no, we can't
put each group easily into their own subdirectory.

I could of course ask them to send me their custom upload directives
and merge those into our ftpaccess, but if we had a per user .ftprc
each group could set their options for umask and group for themselves
and could even download a different .ftprc without my intervention.

BTW: using the upload directive's format for .ftprc might be a good
idea though.

	--jc

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From: Bob Luckin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 97 18:11:47 CDT

>    could set options like umask=002 or default_directory=~/uploads.

Since wu-ftpd allows the umask to be set on the fly, this particular problem
seems to me to be a client-side issue.  Can these users find a client which
will let them issue the umask command - preferably by using some sort of
local configuration file which is read by the client at startup ?

I would prefer this to modifying wu-ftpd, for the following reason :
if the standard FTP protocol already provides a way for setting the umask, we
should be encouraging clients to make use of it, instead of adding a
non-standard alternative.

Cheers, Bob
-- 
Bob Luckin      [email-masked]      "No stab - mock combat's off !"