Using symlinks in FTP share

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Level 1

39 points

Using symlinks in FTP share

Is there a way to have FTP follow symlinks? As an example I have user folders in /users/username and I drop a symlink in a user folder pointing to another sharepoint located at /share2/ on the same server. Even though the users have read access to share2 FTP clients are not following the symlink. They recognize it as a file.
I have tried an alias also with the same result.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Intel xserve, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Oct 13, 2008 11:49 AM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

59,313 points

Oct 13, 2008 12:49 PM in response to Nick Peronti

This is normal and expected (and usually desired) behavior.

In general you don't want to allow FTP clients to follow symlinks. That's because symlinks are really files that point to another location and it would be easy for a user to upload a symlink file that points to somewhere sensitive on your machine and thereby gain access to areas they shouldn't.

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Answer 2

Oct 16, 2008 7:17 PM in response to Nick Peronti

... I drop a symlink in a user folder pointing to another sharepoint
I have tried an alias also with the same result.

You don't 'drop' a symlink; a symlink is created with the 'ln' command. 'Aliases' are 'dropped' or created via the Finder and don't function the same way. Symlinks are used all the time on FTP servers to redirect clients to 'deep' directories from a 'higher' level to make navigation easier. You should make certain that the permissions on your FTP server directories are set properly to prevent users from writing to places that they should not be allowed to.

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