---
name: "ftpd"
section: "8"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ftpd"
---

# ftpd(8)

Internet File Transfer Protocol server

## NAME

**ftpd** – Internet File Transfer Protocol server

## SYNOPSIS

**ftpd** \[**-46ADdlMnPSUW**\] \[**-m** *minuid*\] \[**-T** *maxtimeout*\] \[**-t** *timeout*\] \[**-u** *mask*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**ftpd** is the Internet File Transfer Protocol server process. The server uses the TCP protocol and listens at the port specified in the “ftp” service specification; see [services(5)](/services/5.md).

The options are as follows:

- **-4**

  When **-D** is specified, forces **ftpd** to use IPv4 addresses only.

- **-6**

  When **-D** is specified, forces **ftpd** to use IPv6 addresses only.

- **-A**

  Permit only anonymous FTP connections (unless the **-n** option is specified), accounts listed in */etc/ftpchroot* or users in a login class with the “ftp-chroot” variable set (see below). Other connection attempts are refused.

- **-D**

  With this option set, **ftpd** will detach and become a daemon, accepting connections on the FTP port and forking child processes to handle them. This has lower overhead than starting **ftpd** from [inetd(8)](/inetd/8.md) and is thus useful on busy servers to reduce load.

- **-d**

  Debugging information is written to the syslog using LOG\_FTP.

- **-l**

  Each successful and failed FTP session is logged using syslog with a facility of LOG\_FTP. If this option is specified twice, the retrieve (get), store (put), append, delete, make directory, remove directory and rename operations and their filename arguments are also logged.

- **-M**

  Enables multihomed mode. Instead of simply using *~ftp* for anonymous transfers, a directory matching the fully qualified name of the IP number the client connected to, and located inside *~ftp*, is used instead.

- **-m** *minuid*

  Disallow login to user accounts with a UID below *minuid*. The default is 1000, to prevent access to administrative and daemon accounts. Anonymous access is allowed even if the UID of the FTP user is smaller than *minuid*.

- **-n**

  Do not permit anonymous FTP logins. Normally they are permitted.

- **-P**

  Permit illegal port numbers or addresses for PORT command initiated connects. By default **ftpd** violates the RFC and thus constrains the PORT command to non-reserved ports and requires it use the same source address as the connection came from. This prevents the "FTP bounce attack" against services on both the local machine and other local machines.

- **-S**

  With this option set, **ftpd** logs all anonymous downloads to the file */var/log/ftpd* when this file exists.

- **-T** *maxtimeout*

  A client may also request a different timeout period; the maximum period allowed may be set to *maxtimeout* seconds with the **-T** option. The default limit is 2 hours.

- **-t** *timeout*

  The inactivity timeout period is set to *timeout* seconds (the default is 15 minutes).

- **-U**

  Each concurrent FTP session is logged to the file */var/run/utmp*, making them visible to commands such as [who(1)](/who/1.md). **-U** and **-W** are mutually exclusive.

- **-u** *mask*

  Force the umask to *mask*, instead of the default specified in */etc/login.conf* (usually 022). Also disallows chmod.

- **-W**

  Do not save login records to */var/log/wtmp*. **-W** and **-U** are mutually exclusive.

The file */etc/nologin* can be used to disable FTP access. If the file exists, **ftpd** displays it and exits. Note: this method will disable *all* non-root logins; see [login(1)](/login/1.md) for further details. If the file */etc/ftpwelcome* exists, **ftpd** prints it before issuing the “ready” message. If the welcome file exists (*/etc/motd* by default), **ftpd** prints it after a successful login. If the file *.message* exists in a directory, **ftpd** prints it when that directory is entered.

The FTP server currently supports the following FTP requests. The case of the requests is ignored.

| | |
| --- | --- |
| **Request** | **Description** |
| ABOR | abort previous command |
| ACCT | specify account (not implemented) |
| ALLO | allocate storage (vacuously) |
| APPE | append to a file |
| CDUP | change to parent of current working directory |
| CWD | change working directory |
| DELE | delete a file |
| EPRT | specify data connection port |
| EPSV | prepare for server-to-server transfer |
| HELP | give help information |
| LIST | give list of files in a directory (ls -lgA) |
| LPRT | specify data connection port |
| LPSV | prepare for server-to-server transfer |
| MDTM | show last modification time of file |
| MKD | make a directory |
| MODE | specify data transfer *mode* |
| NLST | give name list of files in directory |
| NOOP | do nothing |
| PASS | specify password |
| PASV | prepare for server-to-server transfer |
| PORT | specify data connection port |
| PWD | print the current working directory |
| QUIT | terminate session |
| REIN | reinitialize (not implemented) |
| REST | restart incomplete transfer |
| RETR | retrieve a file |
| RMD | remove a directory |
| RNFR | specify rename-from file name |
| RNTO | specify rename-to file name |
| SITE | non-standard commands (see next section) |
| SIZE | return size of file |
| SMNT | structure mount (not implemented) |
| STAT | return status of server |
| STOR | store a file |
| STOU | store a file with a unique name |
| STRU | specify data transfer *structure* |
| SYST | show operating system type of server system |
| TYPE | specify data transfer *type* |
| USER | specify user name; not valid after login |
| XCUP | change to parent of current working directory (deprec.) |
| XCWD | change working directory (deprecated) |
| XMKD | make a directory (deprecated) |
| XPWD | print the current working directory (deprecated) |
| XRMD | remove a directory (deprecated) |

The following non-standard or UNIX specific commands are supported by the SITE request:

| | |
| --- | --- |
| **Request** | **Description** |
| CHMOD | change mode of a file, e.g., SITE CHMOD 755 filename |
| HELP | give help information |
| IDLE | set idle-timer, e.g., SITE IDLE 60 |
| UMASK | change umask, e.g., SITE UMASK 002 |

The remaining FTP requests specified in Internet RFC 959 are recognized, but not implemented. MDTM and SIZE are specified in RFC 3659.

The FTP server will abort an active file transfer only when the ABOR command is preceded by a Telnet "Interrupt Process" (IP) signal and a Telnet "Synch" signal in the command Telnet stream, as described in Internet RFC 959. If a STAT command is received during a data transfer, preceded by a Telnet IP and Synch, transfer status will be returned.

**ftpd** interprets file names according to the “globbing” conventions used by [csh(1)](/csh/1.md). This allows users to utilize the metacharacters “\*?\[\]{}~”.

**ftpd** authenticates users by using the service and type of *ftp*, as defined in the */etc/login.conf* file (see [login.conf(5)](/login.conf/5.md)). An authentication style may be specified by appending with a colon (‘:’) following the authentication style, i.e. “joe:skey”. The allowed authentication styles for **ftpd** may be explicitly specified by the “auth-ftp” entry in */etc/login.conf*.

**ftpd** authenticates users according to the following rules.

1. The login name must be in the password database and not have a null password. In this case a password must be provided by the client before any file operations may be performed.

2. The login name must not appear in the file */etc/ftpusers*.

3. The user account must have a UID not less than *minuid*.

4. The user must have a standard shell as described by [shells(5)](/shells/5.md).

5. If the user name appears in the file */etc/ftpchroot*, which is a text file containing one user name per line, the session's root will be changed to the user's login directory by [chroot(2)](/chroot/2.md) as for an “anonymous” or “ftp” account (see next item). However, the user must still supply a password. This feature is intended as a compromise between a fully anonymous account and a fully privileged account. The account should also be set up as for an anonymous account.

6. If the user name is “anonymous” or “ftp”, an anonymous FTP account must be present in the password file (user “ftp”). In this case the user is allowed to log in by specifying any password (by convention an email address for the user should be used as the password).

Once a user is authenticated, the user must be approved by any approval script defined (see [login.conf(5)](/login.conf/5.md)). If a valid approval script (by either :approve=...: or :approve-ftp=...: for the user's class) is defined then it is run and must exit with a 0 (success) status. When **ftpd** is running under the **-D** flag (and debugging is not turned on) then the approval script will be called with at least the following variables specified via the **-v** option (see [login.conf(5)](/login.conf/5.md)) to the approve script:

| | |
| --- | --- |
| **Variable** | **Description** |
| FTPD\_HOST | The server's (virtual) hostname |

For example (the line is broken to fit the page):

```
/usr/libexec/auth/approve_ftpd -v FTPD_HOST=ftp.mycompany.com \
	username class service
```

When the user logs in to the anonymous FTP account, **ftpd** takes special measures to restrict the client's access privileges. The server performs a [chroot(2)](/chroot/2.md) to the home directory of the “ftp” user. In order that system security is not breached, it is recommended that the “ftp” subtree be constructed with care, following these rules:

- *~ftp*

  Make the home directory owned by “root” and unwritable by anyone (mode 555).

- *~ftp/etc*

  Make this directory owned by “root” and unwritable by anyone (mode 511). The files pwd.db (see [pwd\_mkdb(8)](/pwd_mkdb/8.md)) and [group(5)](/group/5.md) must be present for the [ls(1)](/ls/1.md) command to be able to produce owner names rather than numbers. The password field in *pwd.db* is not used, and should not contain real passwords. The file *motd*, if present, will be printed after a successful login. These files should be mode 444.

- *~ftp/pub*

  Make this directory mode 555 and owned by “root”. This is traditionally where publicly accessible files are stored for download.

If logging to the */var/log/ftpd* file is enabled, information will be written in the following format:

- time

  The time and date of the download, in [ctime(3)](/ctime/3.md) format.

- elapsed time

  The elapsed time, in seconds.

- remote host

  The remote host (or IP number).

- bytes

  The number of bytes transferred.

- path

  The full path (relative to the FTP chroot space) of the file transferred.

- type

  The type of transfer; either ‘a’ for ASCII or ‘b’ for binary.

- unused

  Unused field containing a ‘\*’, for compatibility.

- unused

  Unused field containing an ‘o’, for compatibility.

- user type

  The type of user; either ‘a’ for anonymous or ‘r’ for a real user (should always be anonymous).

- name

  Either a system login name or the value given for “email address” if an anonymous user.

- service name

  The network service name (always ftp).

- unused

  Unused field containing a ‘0’, for compatibility.

- real name

  The system login name if the connection is not anonymous, or a ‘\*’ if it is.

Although fields exist for logging information on real users, this file is only used for anonymous downloads. Unused fields exist only for compatibility with other **ftpd** implementations.

## LOGIN.CONF VARIABLES

The **ftpd** daemon uses the following FTP-specific parameters:

- *auth-ftp*

  The list of authentication types available to this class. See [login.conf(5)](/login.conf/5.md).

- *ftp-chroot*

  A boolean value. If set, users in this class will be automatically chrooted to the user's login directory.

- *ftp-dir*

  A path to a directory. This value overrides the login directory for users in this class. A leading tilde (‘~’) in *ftp-dir* will be expanded to the user's home directory based on the contents of the password database.

- *welcome*

  The path of the file containing the welcome message. If this variable is not set, */etc/motd* is used.

## PORT ALLOCATION

For passive mode data connections, **ftpd** will listen to a random high TCP port. The interval of ports used are configurable using [sysctl(8)](/sysctl/8.md) variables *net.inet.ip.porthifirst* and *net.inet.ip.porthilast*.

## FILES

- */etc/ftpchroot*

  list of normal users who should be chrooted

- */etc/ftpusers*

  list of unwelcome/restricted users

- */etc/ftpwelcome*

  welcome notice

- */etc/login.conf*

  authentication styles

- */etc/motd*

  printed after a successful login

- */etc/nologin*

  displayed and access refused

- */var/log/ftpd*

  log file for anonymous downloads

- */var/log/wtmp*

  login account records

- */var/run/utmp*

  list of users on the system

## SEE ALSO

[ftp(1)](/ftp/1.md), [login(1)](/login/1.md), [skey(1)](/skey/1.md), [who(1)](/who/1.md), [chroot(2)](/chroot/2.md), [ctime(3)](/ctime/3.md), [group(5)](/group/5.md), [login.conf(5)](/login.conf/5.md), [motd(5)](/motd/5.md), [services(5)](/services/5.md), [shells(5)](/shells/5.md), [ftp-proxy(8)](/ftp-proxy/8.md), [inetd(8)](/inetd/8.md), [pwd\_mkdb(8)](/pwd_mkdb/8.md), [sysctl(8)](/sysctl/8.md), [syslogd(8)](/syslogd/8.md)

## STANDARDS

J. Postel and J. Reynolds, *FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP)*, RFC 959, October 1985.

P. Hethmon, *Extensions to FTP*, RFC 3659, March 2007.

## HISTORY

The **ftpd** command appeared in 4.2BSD.