# Quickest non-daemon ftp with full access to system



## urbanriot (Feb 17, 2013)

To make my life quicker and easier when configuring some of our site's various servers, I want a quick compile run-as-needed FTP server with full rights to the file system, one that I can simply engage to upload files anywhere I want and then ctrl-C on the server to quit the server. 

Previously I was using pure-ftpd but at some point something since my last server changed with the source or ports and I now have:


```
L] STOR file.conf
[L] 553 Can't open that file: Permission denied
[L] Transfer Failed!
```

I don't want to mess around with configuration files or virtualized user lists or whatever, I simply want to make install an ftp server and run it and it's serving the entire system's file structure. 

Or if someone can tell me if there's a configure option I can engage for pure-ftpd to give me the same experience I had before, I'd appreciate it. 

Thanks in advance!


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## fonz (Feb 17, 2013)

For starters, plain FTP is not secure. But if that's not an issue, I think the easiest way would be to just use the base ftpd(8). No need to compile anything and you can turn it on or off by issuing on the server`# /etc/rc.d/ftpd onestart``# /etc/rc.d/ftpd onestop`


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## wblock@ (Feb 17, 2013)

What about sftp(1)?  Already available if sshd(8) is running.


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## urbanriot (Feb 17, 2013)

Both are good answers but not _exactly_ what I was looking for. 

With older versions of pure-ftpd, I could simply start the server as root and have full access to everything since I engaged it as root, without changing any configuration files or making any permissions adjustments, then after I closed it that's it, nothing to revert or 'fix'. 

sftp and ftpd out of the box won't give me that access.


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## trh411 (Feb 17, 2013)

Are you saying that you previously used ftp/pureFTPd on the server in question, and that because it returned a permission error when you tried to run it today that you are now looking for a different tool to install/use?

Why isn't troubleshooting the problem an option? Or re-installing it? The FreeBSD port of ftp/pureFTPd is the latest version. 

Based on what I found on the web site, ftp/pureFTPd does not typically use a configuration file, but command line options instead. However, it can be configured to use a configuration file.

Does your installation use a configuration file?


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## urbanriot (Feb 18, 2013)

No, there's no .conf scripts but you got me to thinking... 

I checked out another server I'd recently deployed and it has the same full access functionality with pure-ftpd when it's activated foreground and it's a recent version, v1.0.34 (ports is v1.0.36). 

I might have compiled it with a magic switch I didn't document or something changed in just a few versions. 

In the changelog for Pure-FTPd v1.0.36 is this snippet: 
- Support for external authentification handlers has been fixed.

I wonder if this 'fixed' a 'feature' I was relying on for efficiency sake?


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## throAU (Feb 18, 2013)

urbanriot said:
			
		

> Both are good answers but not _exactly_ what I was looking for.
> 
> With older versions of pure-ftpd, I could simply start the server as root and have full access to everything since I engaged it as root, without changing any configuration files or making any permissions adjustments, then after I closed it that's it, nothing to revert or 'fix'.
> 
> sftp and ftpd out of the box won't give me that access.



Given that you don't care about security, because you're talking about allowing an FTP daemon full access to your filesystem, maybe you could just recompile and install the old version that worked?


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## urbanriot (Feb 18, 2013)

Yep, grabbed ftp://ftp.pureftpd.org/pub/pure-ftpd/releases/pure-ftpd-1.0.34.tar.gz and compiled as my documentation suggests with 

```
./configure 
		--with-minimal
		--without-banner
		--without-humor
		--without-inetd
```
gave me exactly what I had before and exactly what I want. I kind of solved my own problem but sometimes the answer is too obvious that it takes some back and forth to make itself apparent. 

Thanks gents!

There's probably a way to do the same thing with the newer versions but I wasn't able to figure it out.


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