Hi,
I'v got query regarding Linux and setting up an FTP server for external clients to be able to connect to and upload information into their own folder.

For some time i've used proftpd with a gnome gui front end but my problem (which i assume is due to complete lack of knowledge) is that each time i add a new user i copy a previous user's profile and then add a new home folder which has write access for the new user. The problem then comes that i have to go back through all the previous users and add this folder (with read only rights)to all the other users profile. This was fine when there were only a few users but now we have 30 or more users this is an administration nightmare.

Is there an easy way to bulk update a group and save administration time?

Thank in advance for any help.

Sounds like a job for a script (bash/Perl/Python), unless there is already an automated solution out there, which seems likely.

I was hoping there would be a pre-made solution for this as i'd assume its a common task to perform. In windows based solutions once you create a group any changes are rolled out across all members, but it doesn't seem to be the case in proftpd (again i'm happy to be told I'm wrong and that I've missed something basic out).

If there is no easy solution for this using ftp. Is there any other solutions which offer the functionality i require, locked down ssh? for instance. The main aim of this is to easily set up a project folder with a set of sub folders for all members to drop their own work into (which can be expanded upon easily). Then a web front end (currently using net2ftp configured for my server) to allow external users with no computer knowledge to easily connect and upload their files to their project. A dream would then be to have a web interface to send a join request that i can then acknowledge quickly and give relevant access through drop downs etc...

I'm sure this isn't a new idea and someone must be doing it on a regular basis?

Many thanks...

There is.
You need to read up on users groups and permissions
You need to create a new group, maybe called ftpusers (this needs to be each user's primary group)
Make all users members of this group.
Give each users files the permissions rw-r-----
That means each user can read/write their own files but other users, who are members of the same group, can only read them.