basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

graysky · 2010-02-14 10:55:35

Why do directories need to have rwx for my user (the owner of the dir) to be able to enter them? The example below is 755 and I can enter it no problem:

$ mkdir test
$ls -l
total 706544
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user      4096 Feb 14 05:51 test

If I remove the executable flag from the dir then try to enter it, I get a permission denied which I don't understand since I'm not attempting to execute anything by changing directories into it.. am I?

$ chmod 644 test
$ls -l
total 706544
drw-r--r-- 2 user user      4096 Feb 14 05:51 test
$ cd test
-bash: cd: test: Permission denied

Last edited by graysky (2010-02-14 11:05:40)

Allan · 2010-02-14 11:02:22

That is the way of the world... executable permissions on directories allow you to enter it, read permissions allow you to list the files in there.

graysky · 2010-02-14 11:03:57

Thanks for the rapid response. I suspected as much but wanted to be sure. Guess I can just enter the dir then chmod 644 * to keep the files the way I want them.

Allan · 2010-02-14 11:07:59

Your folders should by default have 755 permissions and files created with 644 permissions. There should be no need to chmod.

graysky · 2010-02-14 11:09:27

@Allan - what file dictates this behavior?

Allan · 2010-02-14 11:14:05

> grep umask /etc/profile
#Set our umask
umask 022

graysky · 2010-02-14 11:16:12

Thanks again

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-14 10:55:35

basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

#2 2010-02-14 11:02:22

Re: basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

#3 2010-02-14 11:03:57

Re: basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

#4 2010-02-14 11:07:59

Re: basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

#5 2010-02-14 11:09:27

Re: basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

#6 2010-02-14 11:14:05

Re: basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

#7 2010-02-14 11:16:12

Re: basic permissions question 755 vs. 644 and Permission denied [SOLVED]

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