Install xinetd and ProFtpD#

1. Install (choose "from inet")

sudo apt-get install proftpd-basic
sudo apt-get install xinetd

2. /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf

# Set the user and group that the server normally runs at.
User                            proftpd
Group                           nogroup

This user starts the server; FTP user can be all

ServerType                      inetd

inetd means also xinetd, canig of xinetd see below.
Otherwise you can ignore xinetd and use ServerType=standalone.

Logs are under /var/log/proftpd/proftpd.log
Starting under /usr/sbin/proftpd (standalone).

/etc/xinetd.d/ftp

3. /etc/inetd.conf

ftp     stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/proftpd

4. /etc/xinetd.d/ftp

service ftp
{
        flags           = REUSE
        socket_type     = stream
        protocol        = tcp
        wait            = no
        user            = root
        server          = /usr/sbin/in.proftpd
        disable         = no
}

Start with

service xinetd start
or
/etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Install proFTP | ProFTPD 1.2 INSTALL

5. Notes

1. Users who log in via FTP should have a shell in /etc/passwd
2. Set approprioate read/write access rights, see here