alow regular user access without comprimizeing security of permissions

Without comprimizeing the security I want a user to have write access to the content folder for apache. However I cannot achive this, and need assistance. I want my user account to have write permisions to /var/www/html

I decided to create a webaster group, make the user a member of the new group then change ownership of /var/www/html:

Code:

---

/usr/sbin/groupadd webmaster
gedit /etc/group
# webmaster:x:502:root,atapi103
chown -R :webmaster html
chmod -R 775 html

---

However I am unable to write to that folder.

Quote:

---

atapi103 [/var/www]$ ls -l
total 20
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 19 08:40 cgi-bin
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Apr 3 04:32 error
drwxrwxr-x 3 root webmaster 4096 Nov 19 08:40 html
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Apr 3 04:33 icons
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4096 Apr 3 04:39 manual

atapi103 [/var/www/html]$ gedit index.htm
Cannot create the file "/var/www/html/index.htm".
Make sure you have the appropriate write permissions.

---

atapi103 should have write access to html correct? How can I alow atapi103 to have write access, without comprimizeing the security as to allow other unauthorized users access?

A short list of checks to make first:

pre: make sure to do this as su root ;)

1. make sure you are in /var/www/
2. chgrp -R webmaster html
3. chmod -R 775 html
4. double check your /etc/group file that the proper name (spelling included) is correctly placed in the group. I know you did this, but run a double check for spacing errors or typos.

Ok I did everything as you said, I also double checked /etc/group and made sure there were no spaces or formating errors.

I noticed after the line webmaster:x:502:root,atapi103 there was a blank line following, so I placed the cursor to the end and hit delete to make sure webmaster:x:502:root,atapi103 was the very last line, but that made no difernce

Are you stuck in Commandline, or do you have a DM present (such as kde or gnome)

I have gnome, I am using the terminal provided.

Can you do me a favor? Copy and paste a section of your /etc/group?


I want to make sure the layout for your groups are identical. I understand you used the groupadd command, but better safe than sorry. Not all of it, just a few normal lines like the sys group and wheel group.

Ok here is my /etc/group will all the fat cut out, I attached is the full also

root:x:0:root
bin:x:1:root,bin,daemon
daemon:x:2:root,bin,daemon
sys:x:3:root,bin,adm
adm:x:4:root,adm,daemon
nobody:x:99:
users:x:100:
desktop:x:80:
gdm:x:42:
atapi103:x:500:atapi103
sunnyday:x:501:
wine:x:66:
webmaster:x:502:root,atapi103

Everything checks out, permissions, group settings, etc etc.

Have you thought of a compelte reboot? Sometimes there are odd settings in httpd servers and other services in which they have to be literally restarted (along with the user) to reset the permissions level.

Beyond doing that, everything should be working, as it is a textbook permissions change in which you preformed perfectly.

Ok I did the reboot and that solved it :) No more error

I deeply thank you, I was getting fusterated. Much apreciation.

Glad I could help :)

(and people say linux never needs to be restarted ppfft)

I didn't see it anywhere so I thought I'd mention it.

Did you logoff and back on again _after_ you've changed the groups?
You'll need to logoff/logon to be able to get the new permissions.

The thing about Linux is that you NEVER need to re-boot unless you're updating/re-installing the kernel, altering BIOS, or hard-ware upgrades.

Many times, if something like that happens and a re-boot fixes it, very often re-starting the appropriate service will fix it as well. When altering permissions or the config file, always re-start the process afterwards.

For instance, I've been playing around with my samba config file lately, and if I want to re-start the samba process, I type:

Normal User: (Failed Attempt)
user@Agamemnon:~> /etc/init.d/smb restart
Shutting down SAMBA smbd :killproc: Can not read /proc/2234/exe: Permission denied
failed
cups on
Waiting for cupsd to get ready done
Starting SAMBA smbd :checkproc: Can not read /proc/2234/exe: Permission denied
Warning: /var/run/samba/smbd.pid exists ! startproc: Can not read /proc/2234/exe: Permission denied
failed
user@Agamemnon:~> su
Password:
(Just logged into root, use same command, success.)
Agamemnon:/home/user # /etc/init.d/smb restart
Shutting down SAMBA smbd : done
cups on
Waiting for cupsd to get ready done
Starting SAMBA smbd : done
Agamemnon:/home/user #

Keep that in mind for the future, hope it helps! (Its saved me more than my share of re-boots.)

Edit: Didn't post this until AFTER SirDice's post, which should also work (ESPECIALLY in this case.)