## ProFTPD module `mod_rewrite`

This module is contained in the `mod_rewrite.c` file for ProFTPD 1.3.x, and is not compiled by default. Installation instructions are discussed here.

The most current version of `mod_rewrite` is distributed with the ProFTPD source code.

A discussion of the usage of this module follows.

## Author

Please contact TJ Saunders <tj at castaglia.org> with any questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding this module.

## Directives

- RewriteCondition
- RewriteEngine
- RewriteLock
- RewriteLog
- RewriteMap
- RewriteMaxReplace
- RewriteRule

### RewriteCondition

Syntax: RewriteCondition condition pattern [flags]
Default: None
Context: server config, `<VirtualHost>`, `<Global>`, `<Anonymous>`, `<Directory>`
Module: mod_rewrite
Compatibility: 1.2.6rc1 and later

The `RewriteCondition` directive defines a rule condition. Precede a `RewriteRule` directive with one or more `RewriteCondition` directives. The following rewriting rule is only used if its pattern matches the current state of the FTP command and if these additional conditions apply too.

Condition is a string which can contain the following expanded constructs in addition to plain text:

- `RewriteRule` backreferences
  These are backreferences of the form:

          $N

  (0 <= N <= 9) which provide access to the grouped parts (parentheses!) of the pattern from the corresponding `RewriteRule` directive (the one following the current bunch of `RewriteCondition` directives). Note that $0 will refer back to the entire original string being matched.

  Use an extra `$` character to escape a sequence which looks like a `RewriteRule` backreference, e.g. $$N.

- `RewriteCondition` backreferences
  These are backreferences of the form:

          %N

  (0 <= N <= 9) which provide access to the grouped parts (parentheses!) of the pattern from the previous `RewriteCondition` attached to this `RewriteRule`.

  Use an extra `%` character to escape a sequence which looks like a `RewriteCondition` backreference, e.g. %%N.

- `RewriteMap` expansions:
  These are expansions of the form:

         ${map-name:lookup-key|default-value}

  See the documentation for `RewriteMap` for more details.

- Variable substitutions:
  These are substitutions of the form:

  %a | Client IP address
  %c | Name of Class for current session
  %f | Filename
  %F | Transfer path, as seen by the client (only useful for upload/download commands)
  %g | Primary group of authenticated user
  %G | Supplemental groups of authenticated user
  %h | Client DNS name
  %m | FTP command
  %p | Port of server handling the session
  %u | Name of authenticated user
  %U | Name of user sent by client via `USER`
  %v | `ServerName` of server handling the session
  %{TIME_YEAR} | Current local year in YYYY format
  %{TIME_MON} | Current local month in MM format
  %{TIME_DAY} | Current local day in DD format
  %{TIME_WDAY} | Current local day of week (Sunday is 0)
  %{TIME_HOUR} | Current local hour in HH format
  %{TIME_MIN} | Current local minute in mm format
  %{TIME_SEC} | Current local second in ss format
  %{TIME} | Current local time in YYYYMMDDHHmmss format

- Environment Variable substitutions:
  These are substitutions of the form:

        %{ENV:variable-name}

  If the variable-name environment variable is not present, it will be substituted with the empty string.

Pattern is the condition pattern, i.e., a regular expression which is applied to the current instance of the condition, i.e., condition is evaluated and then matched against pattern. You can prefix the pattern string with a '!' character (exclamation mark) to specify a non-matching pattern.

The pattern can also be one of these special variants:

- `<`pattern (is lexically lower)
  Treats the pattern as a plain string and compares it lexically to condition. True if condition is lexically lower than pattern

- `>`pattern (is lexically greater)
  Treats the pattern as a plain string and compares it lexically to condition. True if condition is lexically greater than pattern

- `=`pattern (is lexically equal)
  Treats the pattern as a plain string and compares it lexically to condition. True if condition is lexically equal to pattern, i.e. the two strings are exactly equal (character by character). If pattern is just "" (two quotation marks) this compares condition to the empty string

- `-d` (is directory)
  Treats the condition as a pathname and tests if it exists and is a directory

- `-f` (is regular file)
  Treats the condition as a pathname and tests if it exists and is a regular file

- `-s` (is regular file with size)
  Treats the condition as a pathname and tests if it exists and is a regular file with size greater than zero

- `-l` (is symbolic link)
  Treats the condition as a pathname and tests if it exists and is a symbolic link

Notice: All of these variants can also be prefixed by an exclamation mark ('!') to negate their meaning.

Flags, if present, modify how this `RewriteCondition` is evaluated. Supported flags are:

- nocase|NC (no case)
  This makes the pattern case-insensitive, i.e. there is no difference between 'A-Z' and 'a-z' when pattern is matched against the condition

- ornext|OR (or next condition)
  Use this to combine rule conditions with a logical `OR` instead of the implicit `AND`. Typical example:

          RewriteCondition %h  ^host1.*  [OR]
          RewriteCondition %h  ^host2.*  [OR]
          RewriteCondition %h  ^host3.*
          RewriteRule ...some special stuff for any of these hosts...

  Without this flag you would have to write the condition/rule combination three times.

### RewriteEngine

Syntax: RewriteEngine on|off
Default: off
Context: server config, `<VirtualHost>`, `<Global>`
Module: mod_rewrite
Compatibility: 1.2.6rc1 and later

The `RewriteEngine` directive enables or disables the module's runtime rewriting engine. If it is set to off this module does no parsing or rewriting at all. Use this directive to disable the module instead of commenting out all `mod_rewrite` directives.

### RewriteLock

Syntax: RewriteLock file
Default: None
Context: server config, `<VirtualHost>`, `<Global>`
Module: mod_rewrite
Compatibility: 1.2.6rc1 and later

The `RewriteLock` directive sets the filename for a synchronization lockfile which `mod_rewrite` needs to communicate with `RewriteMap`s of type fifo. Set file to a local absolute path (not on a NFS-mounted device) when you want to use a rewriting FIFO. It is not required for other types of rewriting maps.

### RewriteLog

Syntax: RewriteLog file|"none"
Default: None
Context: server config, `<VirtualHost>`, `<Global>`
Module: mod_rewrite
Compatibility: 1.2.6rc1 and later

The `RewriteLog` directive is used to specify a log file for `mod_rewrite` reporting and debugging, and can be done a per-server basis. The file parameter must be the full path to the file to use for logging. Note that this path must not be to a world-writeable directory and, unless `AllowLogSymlinks` is explicitly set to on (generally a bad idea), the path must not be a symbolic link. In general, this directive should only be used for debugging your `mod_rewrite` configuration, and should be removed once debugging is completed; do not use this directive in a production configuration.

If file is "none", no logging will be done at all; this setting can be used to override a `RewriteLog` setting inherited from a `<Global>` context.

### RewriteMap

Syntax: RewriteMap map-name map-type:map-source
Default: None
Context: server config, `<VirtualHost>`, `<Global>`
Module: mod_rewrite
Compatibility: 1.2.6rc1 and later

The `RewriteMap` directive defines a rewriting map which can be used inside rule substitution strings by the mapping-functions to insert/substitute fields through a key lookup. The source of this lookup can be of various types.

The map-name is the name of the map and will be used to specify a mapping-function for the substitution strings of a rewriting rule via one of the following constructs:

> `${` map-name `:` lookup-key `}`
> `${` map-name `:` lookup-key `|` default-value`}`

When such a construct occurs the map map-name is consulted and the key lookup-key is resolved. If the key is found, the map-function construct is substituted by subst-value. If the key is not found then it is substituted by default-value or by the empty string if no default-value was specified.

The following combinations for map-type and map-src can be used:

- Standard Plain Text
  map-type: `txt`, map-src: Unix filesystem path to valid regular file.

  This is the standard rewriting map feature where the map-src is a plain ASCII file containing either blank lines, comment lines (starting with a '#' character) or pairs like the following - one per line.

  > matching-key subst-value

  Example:

          # --------------------------------------------
          # usermap.txt -- map for rewriting user names
          # --------------------------------------------

          Dave.Admin      dave       # The Uber-admin
          root            anonymous  # no one should be logging in as root anyway

  And, to configure this map to be used:

          RewriteMap real-to-user txt:/path/to/file/usermap.txt

- FIFO/Named Pipe
  map-type: `fifo`, map-src: Unix filesystem path to valid FIFO.

  For this rewriting map, map-src is a FIFO (a.k.a. named pipe). To create it, you can use the `mkfifo(1)` command. An external program that opens the FIFO for reading and writing must be started before `proftpd` is started. This program can communicate with the rewriting engine via the FIFO. For each mapping lookup, it can read the key to lookup as a newline-terminated string from the FIFO. It then has to write back to the FIFO the looked-up value as a newline-terminated string, or just simply newline character (denoting an empty string) if there is no corresponding value for the given key).

  An example program which will implement a 1:1 mapping (i.e., key == value) could be:

          #!/usr/bin/perl
          use strict;

          use File::Basename qw(basename);
          use Getopt::Long;
          use IO::Handle;
          use IO::Select;

          my $default_delay = 0.5;
          my $program = basename($0);
          my %opts = ();

          GetOptions(\%opts, 'delay=f', 'fifo=s', 'help', 'verbose');

          usage() if $opts{'help'};

          my $delay = $opts{'delay'} ? $opts{'delay'} : $default_delay;

          die "$program: missing required --fifo parameter\n" unless $opts{'fifo'};
          my $fifo = $opts{'fifo'};

          my $verbose = $opts{'verbose'} ? 1 : 0;

          open(my $fifo_fh, "+> $fifo") or die "$program: unable to open $fifo: $!\n";

          # Instantiate a Select object for knowing when to read from and write to
          # the FIFO.
          my $sel = IO::Select->new();

          while (1) {

            # Blocking select() for reading.
            $sel->add($fifo_fh);

            print STDERR "$program: selecting for reading\n" if $verbose;
            my ($rfh) = $sel->can_read();

            my $key = <$rfh>;
            print STDERR "$program: read '$key'\n" if $verbose;

            # Lookup a value for the given key.
            my $value = lookup_value($key);

            # Clear the Select object's filehandles.
            $sel->remove();

            print $fifo_fh "$value\n" if $verbose;
            $fifo_fh->flush();

            print STDERR "$program: wrote '$value'\n" if $verbose;

            # Wait for the buffer's byte to be cleared before reading again.
            wait_fifo($fifo_fh);
          }

          close($fifo_fh);
          print STDOUT "$program: done\n" if $verbose;

          exit 0;

          # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
          sub lookup_value {
            my ($key) = @_;

            # NOTE: do something to obtain a value for the given key here.
            chomp(my $value = $key);

            return $value;
          }

          # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
          sub usage {
            print STDOUT <<END_OF_USAGE;

          usage: $program [options]

            --delay         Configure the buffer check delay.
                            The default is $default_delay seconds.

            --fifo          Configure the path to the FIFO.  Required.

            --help          Displays this message.

            --verbose       Enables verbose output while $program runs.

          END_OF_USAGE

            exit 0;
          }

          # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
          sub wait_fifo {
            my ($fh) = @_;

            # Now we get tricky.  Use ioctl(2) to poll the number of bytes to
            # be read from the FIFO filehandle.  When the number drops to zero,
            # it means that the data we just wrote has been read from the buffer
            # by some other process, so we can go back to the top of this loop.
            # Otherwise, if this program loops faster than the reader/writer on
            # the other end of the FIFO, we'd end up reading the data we just
            # wrote.  Quite annoying, actually.
            #
            # Note: this value must be manually extracted from the system header files
            # using the following program:
            #
            # -------- fionread.c -------------------
            #  #include <sys/ioctl.h>
            #
            #  int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
            #   printf("%#08x\n", FIONREAD);
            #   return 0;
            # }
            # ---------------------------------------
            #
            # > cc -o fionread fionread.c
            # > ./fionread

            my $FIONREAD = 0x00541b;

            my $size = pack('L', 0);
            ioctl($fh, $FIONREAD, $size) or die "$program: unable to use ioctl: $!\n";
            $size = unpack('L', $size);

            while ($size != 0) {
              print STDERR "$program: waiting for buffer to be read\n" if $verbose;
              select(undef, undef, undef, $delay);

              $size = pack('L', 0);
              ioctl($fh, $FIONREAD, $size) or die "$program: unable to use ioctl: $!\n";
              $size = unpack('L', $size);
            }
          }

  To make use of this example script, simply implement your lookup code in the `lookup_value()` subroutine. Be very careful with such scripts, though:

  1. "Keep it simple, stupid" (KISS), because if this program hangs it will hang `proftpd` when the rule occurs. Well, keep it as simple as possible...
  2. Avoid one common mistake: avoid buffered I/O if possible. This can cause a deadloop. If necessary, be sure to flush the filehandle before reading, and after writing.
  3. Use the `RewriteLock` directive to define a lockfile `mod_rewrite` can use to synchronize the communication to the FIFO program. By default no such synchronization takes place.
- Internal Function
  map-type: `int`, map-src: Internal `mod_rewrite` function.

  Here the map-src is a `mod_rewrite` built-in function. Currently you cannot create your own, but the following functions already exist:

  - idnatrans:
    Translates text in the lookup up key into IDNA text.

  - replaceall:
    Replace all occurrences, in the looked up key, of one string with another string

  - toupper:
    Converts the looked up key to all upper case.

  - tolower:
    Converts the looked up key to all lower case.

  - unescape:
    Translates hex encodings (i.e. "URL encoding"; see RFC2396, Section 2.4.1), in the looked up key back to special characters.

  - utf8trans:
    Translates UTF-8 encodings in the lookup up key into Latin-1 characters.

The `RewriteMap` directive can occur more than once. For each mapping-function use one `RewriteMap` directive to declare its rewriting map name.

Note: For plain text files the looked-up keys are cached in-core until the `mtime` of the text map file changes or the server does a restart. This way you can have map-functions in rules which are used for every request. This is no problem, because the parsing of the text files only happens once!

### RewriteMaxReplace

Syntax: RewriteMaxReplace count
Default: 8
Context: server config, `<VirtualHost>`, `<Global>`
Module: mod_rewrite
Compatibility: 1.3.5rc1 and later

The `RewriteMaxReplace` directive is used to increase the number of replacements/substitutions that `mod_rewrite` will perform, when rewriting commands. By default, `mod_rewrite` will only replace up to 8 occurrences of a pattern in the input string; if there are more than 8 replacement occurrences, then the input string will be unchanged. If your input strings happen to have more than 8 occurrences to be replaced, you can use the `RewriteMaxReplace` to increase that limit.

For example, to increase the limit to 32 occurrences to be replaced, use:

      RewriteMaxReplace 32

### RewriteRule

Syntax: RewriteRule pattern substitution [flags]
Default: None
Context: server config, `<VirtualHost>`, `<Global>`, `<Anonymous>`, `<Directory>`
Module: mod_rewrite
Compatibility: 1.2.6rc1 and later

The `RewriteRule` directive is the real rewriting workhorse. The configuration directive can occur more than once. Each directive defines a single rewriting rule. The order of definition of these rules is important, because this order is used when applying the rules at run-time.

Note that each `RewriteRule` must be preceded by one (or more) `RewriteCondition` directive.

Pattern can be POSIX regular expression which gets applied to the current FTP command argument(s).

Some hints about the syntax of regular expressions:

- Text:

        .           Any single character
        [chars]     Character class: one of chars
        [^chars]    Character class: none of chars
        text1|text2 Alternative: text1 or text2

- Quantifiers:

        ?           0 or 1 of the preceding text
        *           0 or N of the preceding text (N > 0)
        +           1 or N of the preceding text (N > 1)

- Grouping:

       (text)       Grouping of text
                    (either to set the borders of an alternative or
                    for making backreferences where the Nth group can
                    be used on the RHS of a RewriteRule with $N)

- Anchors:

        ^           Start of line anchor
        $           End of line anchor

- Escaping:

        \char       Escape that particular char
                    (for instance to specify the chars ".[]()" etc.)

For more information about regular expressions have a look at your local `regex(3)` manpage. If you are interested in more detailed information about regular expressions and their variants (POSIX regex, Perl regex, etc.) have a look at the following dedicated book on this topic:

> Mastering Regular Expressions
> Jeffrey E.F. Friedl
> Nutshell Handbook Series
> O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 1997
> ISBN 1-56592-257-3

Additionally in `mod_rewrite` the NOT character ('!') is a possible pattern prefix. This gives you the ability to negate a pattern; to say, for instance: "if the current argument(s) does NOT match this pattern". This can be used for exceptional cases, where it is easier to match the negative pattern, or as a last default rule.

Notice: When using the NOT character to negate a pattern you cannot have grouped wildcard parts in the pattern. This is impossible because when the pattern does NOT match, there are no contents for the groups. In consequence, if negated patterns are used, you cannot use $N in the substitution string.

Substitution of a rewriting rule is the string which is substituted for (or replaces) the original argument(s) for which pattern matched. Beside plain text you can use:

1. `$N` backreferences to the `RewriteRule` pattern
2. `%N` backreferences to the last matched `RewriteCondition` pattern
3. variables as in `RewriteCondition` test strings
4. map function calls (`${map-name:lookup-key|default-value}`)
5. environment variable substitutions (`%{ENV:variable-name}`)

Backreferences are $N (N=0..9) identifiers which will be replaced by the contents of the Nth group of the matched pattern. The variables are the same as for the condition of a `RewriteCondition` directive, with two additions:

       %P   process ID
       %t   Unix time since the epoch, in seconds

The map functions come from the `RewriteMap` directive and are explained there. These four types of variables are expanded in the order of the above list.

All of the rewriting rules are applied to substitution. The command argument(s) is completely replaced by the substitution.

Flags, if present, modify how this `RewriteRule` is evaluated. Supported flags are:

- nocase|NC (no case)
  This makes the pattern case-insensitive, i.e. there is no difference between 'A-Z' and 'a-z' when pattern is matched against the command arguments

## Usage

The `mod_rewrite`'s regular expressions are POSIX extended regular expressions, not Perl regular expressions. This can catch the unsuspecting admin unawares, especially if they are used to Perl.

When processing a `RewriteRule`, the `mod_rewrite` engine will first execute the `RewriteRule`'s regular expression against the command parameters. If that expression fails, the `RewriteRule` is skipped. Any `RewriteCondition`s that are attached to the rule are processed only if the rule's expression matches first.

One of the consequences is that the rewritten path may run afoul of any configured `AllowFilter`, `DenyFilter`, `PathAllowFilter`, or `PathDenyFilter` directives, causing unexpected or unwanted transfers. Please keep this in mind when configuring `RewriteRule`s.

Some metas are not available at certain times (e.g. %U/%u for USER/PASS commands, etc)...

Examples
The following example configuration shows how to configure `mod_rewrite` so that all files uploaded to the server will have all-uppercase filenames:

      <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
        RewriteEngine on

        # Have a log for double-checking any errors
        RewriteLog /var/log/ftpd/rewrite.log

        # Define a map that uses the internal "toupper" function
        RewriteMap uppercase int:toupper

        # Make the file names used by STOR be in all uppercase
        RewriteCondition %m STOR

        # Apply the map to the command parameters
        RewriteRule ^(.*) ${uppercase:$1}

      </IfModule>

This example shows how to convert all spaces in uploaded file names to underscores:

      <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
        RewriteEngine on
        RewriteLog /var/log/ftpd/rewrite.log

        # Define a map that uses the internal "replaceall" function
        RewriteMap replace int:replaceall

        # We only want to use this rule on STOR commands
        RewriteCondition %m STOR

        # Apply the map to the command parameters
        RewriteRule ^(.*) "${replace:/$1/ /_}"

      </IfModule>

## Installation

To install `mod_rewrite`, follow the usual steps for using third-party modules in ProFTPD:

      $ ./configure --with-modules=mod_rewrite

To build `mod_rewrite` as a DSO module:

      $ ./configure --enable-dso --with-shared=mod_rewrite

Then follow the usual steps:

      $ make
      $ make install

Alternatively, if your `proftpd` was compiled with DSO support, you can use the `prxs` tool to build `mod_rewrite` as a shared module:

      $ prxs -c -i -d mod_rewrite.c

Logging
The `mod_rewrite` module supports trace logging, via the module-specific log channels:

- rewrite

Thus for trace logging, to aid in debugging, you would use the following in your `proftpd.conf`:

      TraceLog /path/to/ftpd/trace.log
      Trace rewrite:20

This trace logging can generate large files; it is intended for debugging use only, and should be removed from any production configuration.

© Copyright 2000-2023 TJ Saunders
All Rights Reserved