When it comes to error messages…

This post is both a tip about vsftpd‘s configuration and an example of what an error message should not look like.

If you use vsftpd’s user_config_dir directive in order to set a directory that will hold configuration files for per-user customized server options, be warned that, if one of those files contains a directive whose value is a path that does not exist – for example a mistyped custom local_root -, you will not be able to connect to the FTP service with any user account. Finding the cause of the problem is going to be very difficult as there is no sign about errors in the log files, even if you have set their detail to the maximum.

Moreover, if you use an FTP client like gftp, be prepared for error messages like the following:

Error: Could not read from socket: Success

Yeah, a successful error message at last!

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