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This question is a duplicate of one in StackOverflow, and I was recommended to ask this question here instead. My apologies if the multi-post is undesirable.

I have a very strange issue with FTP that is bugging the living daylights out of me. This is the FIRST time I have ever seen this issue.

When I upload a file, it does not overwrite the original, but instead gets renamed as [original file.ext].1 (or [file].2, if [file].1 already exists). For example, if style.css exist on the server, and I download and edit it, when I upload it back into position it gets “renamed” as style.css.1. Doing the attempt a second time produces a third file called style.css.2.

I own my own iron, upon which I have OpenSUSE 11.4 64-bit installed (a relatively recent install, just configured). I am making use of pure-ftpd and use the YAST control panel to manipulate the settings. The Umask (umask files:umask dirs) setting in particular is set to 000:000 (the only setting which will give an uploaded file the same permissions as existing files). I have Chrooted ftp access for everyone, and in order for FTP to access /srv/www/, I have used the instructions on this site to mount /srv/www/ inside /home/[user]/ftp/ using the bind operation. Ergo, FTP access is chrooted for a very secure user, but the user still has access to content within /srv/www/.

I have also taken the time to give the contents of /srv/www/ the same permissions and user:group as the user itself (i.e., there should be NO permissions issues).

I am using WS_FTP Pro 2007 to access the site, as well as Notepad++ (via NppFTP), and both clients have the same problem: I can download files just fine, but when I upload them they have “.#” appended to them (.1, .2, .3, etc.) instead of overwriting the original file. These new files have the IDENTICAL permissions and ownership (user:group) as the original file, so I am totally in the dark as to why the upload creates a new file instead of overwriting.

Edited to add: I have since tried several different FTP clients, including the FTP functionality in the Windows command line, with identical end results.

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René Kåbis
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  • This is probably a common occurrence with FTP software - consider, for example, you had FTP access to `important-file.txt`, and some script kiddy broke in and overwrote it with a blank text file. My advice: write a cron job to rename any of these files, and run it every 5 minutes. Shouldn't be too difficult if you are semi-competent with shell scripts. – new123456 Sep 07 '11 at 20:29
  • @new123456 - I have run FTP servers on a number of boxes, prior to this setup of OpenSUSE 11.4. NONE of them have exhibited this particular behaviour. I would prefer to utilize a clean and elegant solution, not some cron-job hack. – René Kåbis Sep 08 '11 at 01:18

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There are several references to an "autorename" feature in pure-ftpd. Is it just a matter of turning it off? http://pureftpd.sourceforge.net/README

And while the file name descriptions make this seem less likely is the ftp client using the STOU option? http://www.nsftools.com/tips/RawFTP.htm

There may also be some help in this Q+A How do FTP servers handle rename to an existing file?

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Dennis
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  • you got me looking in the right direction, although it took quite some time to figure this one out. To others that are using OpenSUSE or pure-ftpd along with the YAST control panel, be aware that the YAST control panel does NOT provide you with this option to edit. – René Kåbis Sep 08 '11 at 04:48
  • What I did (in my case) was to examine **/etc/rc.d/pure-ftpd** file, which contained within it a reference to **/etc/pure-ftpd/pure-ftpd.conf**. Within this second file, I found the entry **AutoRename** with a value of *yes*. I changed that to *no*, restarted pure-ftpd, and everything was running perfectly. Uploaded files do NOT get appended with a **.#** anymore. Thanks @Dennis, for the push in the right direction! – René Kåbis Sep 08 '11 at 04:48