Posted by Shelly on 10/29/07 11:19

"Erwin Moller"
<since_humans_read_this_I_am_spammed_too_much@spamyourself.com> wrote in
message news:42b9190f$0$27856$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...
> Shelly wrote:
>
>> I have a new server and I have my files up there. The files are in
>> /var/www/html/. In this directory I have another directory that I
>> created
>> called "users". I am unable to figure out how to set permissions on this
>> directory, and what those permissions should be. I am using ShieldHost.
>>
>> When there is a new user, and he enters his desired name and password, as
>> part of the process I want to create a small directory tree under "users"
>> with the username as the top level. I get that I don't have permission
>> to
>> do that with the mkdir in the code. The line of code is:
>>
>> mkdir($_SESSION['UserRoot'] . $ss_username, 0755);
>>
>> where the session variable has the directory path ending in "/".
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Shelly
>
> Hi Shelly,
>
> You question is not complete.
>
> 1) Who is the owner of /var/www/html/users/ ??

I created the users directory when I logged in as webmaster via the
ShieldHost.com admin interface for my website. So, webmaster owns the
directory as well as all the *.php code in the directory /var/www/html.
When a user uses the URL, it is that code that is run. I assumed that since
the code is owned by webmaster, that the permissions on the server are also
that for webmaster and so should be able to create the directories under
users.

> 2) What are the permissions set on /var/www/html/users/ ??

I don't know and can't seem to determine them from the interface provided by
ShieldHost. When I log into the administration interface there is a "File
Manager" option. If I drill down to the users directory, I don't have any
option to see the permissions.

> 3) Who is running PHP? Which user? Apache? WWW-DATA? NOBODY?

Apache on the server.

> And does that user has rights to to add a new dir in /var/www/html/users/
> ??

I guess not since it says I don't have permission. How can I find out? How
can I give Apache that right, since it is Apache that is actually running
the code? In the ShieldHost admin interface (at ShieldHost.com), when I
click on services/Apache and then "Protect Directories", it shows that the
/var/www/html/users directory is unprotected. I don't see where to give
Apache any rights.

BTW, I just tried a little experiment. I tried to create a directory in the
/var/www/html of just the username supplied by the user. IOW, I didn't put
things in a subdirectory "users". It also failed due to permissions, so the
problem is not with the "users" directory, but with the parent directory.
Should I try some directory somewhere else?

> Maybe if you try to answer these questions, you may find out what goes
> wrong. :-)

Not yet :-(

>
> Good luck.

Thanks.

Shelly

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