Originally posted here by slinky2004
proftpd isnt listed as a process by ps, why is that?
Because it isn't running. You stated you edited the inetd.conf...inetd is the super-daemon. Basically, it watches the ports/services listed in it's conf for traffic, and initiates the necessary servers when needed.

my anonymous ftp user, "ftp", doesnt have access to any folder except /home/ftp when i ftp into the server, but for some reason when i do a "su ftp" ftp has read/write access to all of the folders on my system, why is that?
Where are you executing su ftp? If you prepend a command with su the command is run as root (with some exceptions. Read below.)

how can i set up an account like the anonymous ftp account except it only has read/write access to the /var/www/htdocs directory so that i can make site updates with it? of course i would password protect it
Why would you want to do this? Does your regular user have write permissions to /var/www/htdocs? Use it.

But more importantly, why are you using FTP at all? Why not SFTP, SCP, RSYNC... You're running slackware, so I'd assume you have OpenSSH setup and running. If memory serves, a simple change in /etc/ssh/sshd.conf (or whatever) will allow you to use sftp, scp, etc. to copy files to the server in a MUCH more secure manner.

* For details, see the man pages. Yes. I said it. RTFM. I'm not preaching, I'm not bitching, I've given you some direction, but the details are left to the student as an excercise in proficiency.