ProFTPD: Running as a Nonroot User


Occasionally, one might want to run ProFTPD on a system where root privs are not available to you as a user. It is still possible to setup a functioning FTP server without root privileges. There are a few catches and special considerations for this, however.

Here are the configuration directives that you will need to use in order to run the server without root privileges:

Note that other configuration directives will be affected by the lack of root privileges: DefaultRoot will not work, nor will <Anonymous> sections, nor UserOwner. Basically any operation that requires root privileges will be disabled.

If using the SystemLog directive, make sure the file to which the server is to log can be written to by the configured daemon User or Group.

The daemon should now start successfully. Complaints about not being able to switch UIDs and such will be logged, but the daemon should still function properly.


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