README
1Installation
2
3See the INSTALL file for directions on compiling and installing the
4binary. Short version (as root):
5
6 # ./configure
7 # make
8 # make install
9
10This will install the oftpd daemon itself. To run the server via the
11standard Unix startup mechanism, you'll need to add it to your startup
12files. In most Linux systems, this means putting a shell script in the
13/etc/rc.d/init.d directory and linking to it from the directories for
14your various run levels. If you have a Red Hat 7.0 (or similiar)
15system, you can use the oftpd.redhat7 script for this purpose:
16
17 # cp init/oftpd.redhat7 /etc/rc.d/init.d/oftpd
18 # chkconfig --add oftpd
19
20Be sure to read the FAQ if you have any questions!
21
22
23Introduction
24
25oftpd is designed to be as secure as an anonymous FTP server can
26possibly be. It runs as non-root for most of the time, and uses the
27Unix chroot() command to hide most of the systems directories from
28external users - they cannot change into them even if the server is
29totally compromised! It contains its own directory change code, so that
30it can run efficiently as a threaded server, and its own directory
31listing code (many FTP servers execute the system "ls" command to list
32files). It is currently being code-reviewed for buffer overflows, and
33being load-tested.
34
35
36History
37
38I wrote oftpd to fill a need we had at my company. Our public FTP site
39was a mess, and in addition to reorganizing organizing the hierarchy and
40file layout I wanted to get the latest version of our FTP server
41software. It turns out that the version we had had had a number of
42security issues. So I decided to find an anonymous-only, secure FTP
43server. None of the ones I found were fully baked. Time to write my
44own. :)
45
46
47Portability
48
49oftpd currently runs on modern Linux systems, including Red Hat-derived
50(Mandrake, Trustix, etc.) and Debian systems. oftpd has been ported to
51FreeBSD and is in the FreeBSD ports collection.
52
53
54While I have given up development of oftpd, it's small and reliable. Don't
55hesitate to e-mail if you have questions or suggestions.
56Good luck!
57
58
59Shane Kerr
60shane@time-travellers.org
61