user for php?

GastonPHP

Which Linux user will be used if i write a file via PHP? Where can I see the settings? php.ini or Apache?

Which linux user will be used if i access the file system via PHP?

Thx in advance

bubblenut

That depends on who runs PHP. If you are running PHP from the command line then the permissions of the user running the file carry through. The same is also true (in a way) for when used through your webserver but the webserver's user will be used. In the case of Apache the user is 'nobody' from the group 'nobody'.

HTH
Bubble

GastonPHP

Thanks for your reply.

I run the script via a webbrowser. Where can I change the user for Apache ? Where can I change 'nobody' ?

bubblenut

AFAIK you can't, and even if you can you really really shouldn't because it could potentially open up some incredibly serious security holes.

Why do you need it running as something other than 'nobody'? What is your actual situation?

GastonPHP

I tell my story: I changed our server from M$ Windows to Linux.

I wrote a php script that makes language files for my website. In the past it worked perfect but now i have a permission problem.

I get the following error when writing a file:

code:

$handle = fopen($filename, "w+");

fwrite($handle,$buffer);

fclose ($handle);

result:

Warning: fopen(/httpdocs/lang_EN.php): failed to open stream: Permission denied in /httpdocs/label.php on line 133

It works if i do a chmod -R 777 on the directory but this is not secure! My question is to give php the access to write to a few dirs without 777 for the directory.

thanks in advance

bubblenut

Have a look into chown, I would suggest changing the owner or group to one that can be written to by nobody. The you can change the permissons to 644 (if you've made the user as one which is editable by nobody) or 464 (if you've made the group as one which can be edited by nobody)

Hope I've explained this well enough.

Bubble