It should never be required to have root login from FTP. Anyway, if you really need it, here is how to do it using proftpd in Slackware.

First, it is necessary to start proftpd. To do this, uncomment the corresponding ftp line in /etc/inetd.conf. Then, it is necessary to tell proftpd to allow root login. This is done in two steps. First, edit /etc/proftpd.conf and add, in the middle of the file, but outside any sections, the following line:

RootLogin on

Secondly, edit /etc/ftpusers and comment the user root. Finally, restart inetd and everything should be working correctly.

In order to test this, you can use ftp:

$ ftp localhost
> root
> <pass>

If everything goes smoothly, then root login is working. At any point in time, you can check /var/log/proftpd.log too see if there are any error messages.

Tags: slackware