[CLUE-Tech] I just don't understand it

[Ed Hill]

On Wed, 2002-05-22 at 14:08, Joe Linux wrote:
> After a great deal of time consuming effort, I thought I had the 
> Mandrake permissions problem solved, but now they have come back as 
> before -
> 755.  It seems rather odd to me that on a multi-user system that one 
> user can peer into another users files, and you can't do anything to 
> stop it.
> Mandrake Linux is like a glass house with no window shades.


No, its most certainly not a "glass house" as you describe.

What exactly are you trying to do?

If you want to make a particular directory (or even an entire home
directory and all its contents) private, then its very easy.  Just use:

  chmod 700 /home/user_name/dir_to_make_private

or

  chmod 700 /home/user_name

and you're done.

If this gives you problems, then things to check are:

  (1) What kind of filesystem are you using?  If you're using some 
      kind of MS FAT filesystem then this may not work since (AFAIK) 
      some FAT filesystems do not fully support Unix-style (POSIX) 
      permissions.  And if thats the case, then shame on *you* for 
      choosing to use a non-Unix filesystem and then demanding that 
      it support POSIX permissions.

  (2) Mount point:  If the directory that you are trying to alter 
      the permissions on is itself a mount point for a file system, 
      then read "man chmod" and "man mount" for the details 
      (permissions are set at mount time).

If you have more questions about chmod for the group, then I suggest you
provide a more exact description of what you're trying to accomplish and
*exactly* what commands you're using.

hth,
Ed


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