I want to create a folder for music that any user can access. Would I create a /home/shared directory and if so how would I set permissions for all users or would the folder be better created in /usr/share?

A lot depends on your future plans... locally (on the same host) shared stuff goes in /usr/share, but if you keep /home on it's own partition, then you may prefer to create a /home/share/music directory (so it enjoys the same protection).

If the music is to be shared to a network, then it is more usual to put the shared directory in the home directory of the user who administers the share. If that is you, then ~/share is easier to access. But, again, this can depend on your plans for the future.

Personally, I have kept shared files in /home/share so I can reinstall, or a user can vanish, without me worrying about the data. Without modifying existing backup and upgrade policies.

Directory permissions just need to be rwxrxrx with owner set to whoever will administer the share on the local host.

Thanks Simon. /home is on its own partition so I think I'll go for the /home/share/music option. That way if I have to re-install the system I won't need to touch what may in time become quite a big file.

Cheers,

Mikie

Since you use Debian, I would install vsftpd. The installation gives you a complete, working, and quite secure, anonymous ftp server. Even if you don't want to use ftp as the sharing program, studying the way it is designed to keep users chrooted into the "share" directory would be valuable. I would definitely set up a separate user specifically for that purpose, and share from his /home directory, rather than your own.