[techtalk] Permissions

[Nancy Corbett]

Oh, another thing you can look at when setting permissions is the
httpd.conf file in under apache/conf.  This file, sets all of the defaults
for what the web server can and cannot do.  One thing people run into
sometimes is that this file (httpd.conf) is not set to allow
executables.  So even though the permissions are set correctly in the
directory and files, _boom_, the scripts will not execute!  You'll get a
forbidden error from the web browser, which doesn't tell you what piece of
your system is doing the forbiding.  There is a great log generated by
Apache, though, which usually tells all.  The apache/logs/error_log will
usually reveal whether its a directory permission or an apache snafu.

Here are some resources which go into more depth about apache and http
errors:

		http://www.apache.org/docs/misc/FAQ.html

and, for a breakdown of http status codes:

		http://www.w3.org/Protocols/HTTP/HTRESP.html

and even more http stuff:

		http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/rfc1945.html

The part on the apache page about configuring your .conf files and the
part about the error_log files are both very useful.

I hope this helps.  

Nancy

On Mon, 19 Jun 2000, Carolyn Jarie Getter wrote:

> 
> Thanks for the help.  Believe it or not, I have RTFM, and the relevant parts in
> Running Linux.  (Maybe I need to read them again, eh?  I have not been too keen
> on Running Linux.  It seemed to me to far too often read something like "you
> can do great things with XYZ, but we don't have space to tell you about XYZ." 
> Or it tells how to do something without really explaining what it is I am
> doing.  I'll unbury it and give it another shot.)
> 
> I think I run into trouble mostly when my files are buried ten directories down
> a tree.  Okay, maybe not ten, but definitely down the tree.  Am I correct that
> to read, write or execute, say, three directories down a tree, I have to give
> read, write, and execute privileges to each of the directories in that tree? 
> That makes me a bit nervous.
> 
> The SUID bit has me a bit perplexed as well.  I swear that I have it set on
> the appropriate files, but I can't get whatever it is to function.  Yesterday,
> I tried to get ppp working using SUID where I thought necessary.  No cigars. 
> Login as root and I get it running no sweat.  Incredibly frustrating, that,
> especially when it happens nearly every time I try to install something!
> 
> Reading about the security problems bad permissions and SUID open up
> doesn't make it any easier!  I'm finding far too much of the documentation
> reads something like "There are some lamers who SUID on file LMNOP.  That is
> such a stupid and obvious security hole."  There is nothing said about what the
> lamer should be doing.  
> 
> I think I can; I think I can; I think I can.  :)
> 
> Carolyn
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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