In order to change owner and permissions on files and folders in Linux, you need first to login the server via SSH.
- To change the owner of the file/s and folder/s you need to execute the following command:
- sudo chown username:group file/directory
If you use the -R key, it will make it recursively. Also if you use * for the name, it will change the owner for all items in current directory. Example:
- To change the permissions of files and folders you need to use the following command:
- sudo chmod XXX file/directory
where XXX represents rights for Owner/Group/World. Rights can be assigned via decimal digits:
- chmod 644 filename
or with letters:
- chmod u=rwx,g+x,o-rx filename
r (read) = (has value of) 4
w (write)= (has value of) 2
x (execute)= (has value of) 1
For example if you want to give read, write and execute permissions (4+2+1) to owner, read and execute (4+1) to group and world you need to use the following:
- chmod 755 filename
Setting up the permissions with letters works similar. You have the following abbreviations:
u for user(owner)
g for group
o for others(world)
The following signs are also used: +, - or =
+ will set the specified flag/s and leave other permissions alone
- will unset the specified flag/s and leave all other permissions alone
= will set any specified flags and unset any that are left out of the list.
- chmod u=rwx,g+rx,o-rx filename
Again the -R key in both cases will do it recursively and using the * will change permissions for all items in current folder. Example:
