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#1 2011-08-12 00:04:28

Winta
Member
Registered: 2011-08-11
Posts: 4

[SOLVED] On permissions.

I have an offline post-install Arch setup; no GUI programs or anything that's not in core packages. I'm generally learning as I go and filling my holes in knowledge regarding Linux when needed. This time I tried tightening permissions a little bit before going online, and apparently caused something go wrong in the process.

When I log in with my user account, it returns no "No directory, logging in with HOME=/" and puts me in root directory of the system, instead of my user directory. I booted up my Ubuntu system to check how permissions are set there, but replicating them didn't get rid of me being unable to access my own directory. I've set user directories to be owned by 'user' and 'users' group. Even after running 'chmod -R 777 /home/user' doesn't allow me look into my own home directory. It has left me rather puzzled.

How can I get rid of the message and successfully access my home folder? Whilst doing that, what are the general guidelines regarding tightening of directory permissions, i.e. what needs to be kept in mind to leave system usable?


P.S. I apologize in advance if I've left out a necessary detail or two in my first post; it's late and my brain is hardly up to its best.

Last edited by Winta (2011-08-12 00:51:26)

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#2 2011-08-12 00:14:05

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] On permissions.

Posting the listing of the contents of /home

[karol@black home]$ ls -al
total 64
drwxr-xr-x  5 root  root   4096 08-04 14:41 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root  root   4096 07-08 12:51 ..
drwx------ 84 karol users 36864 08-12 00:56 karol
drwx------  2 root  root  16384 2009-09-13  lost+found
drwx------  2 test1 users  4096 08-04 14:41 test1

could be useful.

Maybe the problem is with /home and not /home/user.

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#3 2011-08-12 00:36:58

Winta
Member
Registered: 2011-08-11
Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] On permissions.

I changed it from:

drwxr-xr-x xyz    users    .
drwxr--r-- root    root    ..

to

drwxrwxr-x root root    .
drwxr-xr-x root root    ..

It did the trick. Thank you.

Just why couldn't I access it? Should I leave permission alone until later, when I've reached full X-enabled desktop?

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#4 2011-08-12 00:39:57

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] On permissions.

Why would you fiddle with the permissions at all? By default your user has only limited permissions and you shouldn't use root for the GUI stuff.

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#5 2011-08-12 00:41:57

Winta
Member
Registered: 2011-08-11
Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] On permissions.

Just trying to learn things by practice. So by default post-install Arch's permissions are as secure as it can be, and there's no room for further adjustments?

Last edited by Winta (2011-08-12 00:45:36)

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#6 2011-08-12 00:47:32

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] On permissions.

What exactly are you afraid of?

If you're interested in enhancing the security of your system, you can .e.g read about SELinux https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SELinux

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#7 2011-08-12 00:51:02

Winta
Member
Registered: 2011-08-11
Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] On permissions.

I have it bookmarked and noted down, but I am yet to get there with my Arch setup. Seems that some more reading is in due, and my issue is solved. Thanks again.

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