vsftpd.conf as installed on RedHat 9 uses a misleading local_umask of 022
vsFTP is the Very Secure FTP server installed with RedHat version 9. According to the man pages all octal umasks must begin with a 0 (zero). The default in the vsftpd.conf file is local_umask=022. This somehow works. BUT if you try changing it to 222 look out! Everything goes nutty! That's because the default should have been 0022 instead of 022. When you change it to 222 it is now read as decimal instead of octal, so your 222 becomes an octal value of 336! If you want a umask of 222 then you need local_umask=0222. Also, there is a default of "file_open_mode=0666" if you don't specify one in your configuration file. I changed my configuration to have "local_umask=0022" and "file_open_mode=0777" which FINALLY leaves my new files with default permissions of 755. Whew! Who knew setting default file upload permissions in vsFTP would be a so tricky? :-)