Bug#1103981: proftpd-core: Does not start with default configuration (unknown configuration directive 'ShowSymlinks')

[David Prévot]

Package: proftpd-core
Version: 1.3.8.c+dfsg-3
Severity: important

Dear Maintainer,

I was hoping this would be caught with #1103154, but unfortunately,
running proftpd-core with the default configuration still fails on
Trixie with proftpd-core=1.3.8.c+dfsg-3.

The meaningful message seems to be “fatal: unknown configuration
directive 'ShowSymlinks' on line 26 of '/etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf'”.

root at test-www03:/etc# systemctl status proftpd.service |cat
× proftpd.service - ProFTPD FTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/proftpd.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2025-04-23 14:41:46 CEST; 6min ago
 Invocation: d742a6957dc44834a25a4bd85e41e1e7
       Docs: man:proftpd(8)
    Process: 639268 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/proftpd --configtest -c $CONFIG_FILE $OPTIONS (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Mem peak: 2.6M
        CPU: 23ms

Apr 23 14:41:46 test-www03 systemd[1]: Starting proftpd.service - ProFTPD FTP Server...
Apr 23 14:41:46 test-www03 proftpd[639268]: Checking syntax of configuration file
Apr 23 14:41:46 test-www03 proftpd[639268]: 2025-04-23 14:41:46,055 test-www03 proftpd[639268]: fatal: unknown configuration directive 'ShowSymlinks' on line 26 of '/etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf'
Apr 23 14:41:46 test-www03 systemd[1]: proftpd.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Apr 23 14:41:46 test-www03 systemd[1]: proftpd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Apr 23 14:41:46 test-www03 systemd[1]: Failed to start proftpd.service - ProFTPD FTP Server.

Regards,

taffit