Best practice advice on file permissions

blackbox

Hi all,

I have a script that requires the permissions to write data to it.

I currently have the permission on the file set to 744. This look as if it alows the script to write to the file but is it the best way of setting the permissions.

Any advice would be great.

Regards

Blackbox

laserlight

Why do you need to write data to the script, rather than to some other file that the script reads from?

blackbox

Hi laserlight,

Sorry I did not make my self clear.

I have a script that when run opens a text file and writes data to it. the text file has the permissions of 744.

And I think my question is; are the permission 744 set on the text file secure enough so that no one from the outside can write to it.

Many thanks for your reply.

Regards,

Blackbox

laserlight

If you are just talking about *nix-style file permissions, then yes, that would indicate that only the owner of the file is permitted to write to it. Since that file is meant to hold data rather than be executed, 644 would likely be more appropriate.

sneakyimp

The "best" permissions on a file are typically just enough so that the file can be executed, written, or read by anyone who needs to and not one person more.

Describing the permissions as "744" does not tell us who the owner and group of the file are. You also haven't told us how your PHP runs. Does it run when you access it on a web server? If so, then you will need to grant write permissions to whatever user the web server runs as (which may or may not be the owner of the file). Does it run from the command line when you type in a command?