Flashes of Panic

In vsftpd, I know how to configure the default owner/group/mode for files uploaded by an anonymous user. However, I’ve yet to find any direction for fixing the same settings for uploaded directories.

(It appears that the “secure” answer is, “Don’t let anonymous users create directories,” but real-world users, who may be anonymous to the server but are not anonymous to me, are not sympathetic to this answer. The point of “anonymous FTP,” in this case, is not to let any clown upload and download arbitrary files to the server, but to allow us to exchange large files with illustrators, authors, developers, etc. without having to create full login accounts for each of them, which qualifies as an unnecessary inconvenience for them and for me.)

I tried the Red Hat user’s mailing list with no response. There’s no individual list for the package. In the process of hunting around, I did find an interesting site, vsftpdrocks.org, which is one of a series of similar sites dedicated to spelling out the installation process of “alternative” server software (like djbdns or qmail.) Still no answer to my umask problems, though.

So I went to The Source. (Use The Source, Luke!) I thought I found a mkdir() system call which may or may not have been the root of the issue, but without my K&R right there (or, for that matter, my Stevens—you’d think these would be included as a sort of extra in XCode) I couldn’t be sure. I must learn to read code more efficiently someday.

So I asked. Sent in a feature request, mentioning how useful the software was and how we used it. I detailed the things I’d already tried in an effort to find an answer, so he knew I wasn’t just a goof asking for help because I couldn’t be bothered to research. Now I just wait to see if it comes up in the next version, I guess.

Now Playing: Frinck from Songs From The Other Side by The Charlatans