Hello all,

I want to set umask so no one else can read my files. I have `umask 077` in .bashrc, .bash_profile, and .profile. I use gnome2 and gdm in Debian testing. When I create files under gnome-terminal, the permissions are set properly. But when I save files from somewhere else, say GIMP, group and other have read permission again. I suspect that I should put `umask 077` in init script for gdm, but I don't know what it is. .xinitrc and .xsession doesn't seem to work.

And also, is it possible to set umask for an individual directory? I want my public_html to have umask 022 so others can access my files and I don't have to chmod everytime I create a file.

Thanks in Advance.

rxc

No, it's not possible to assign individual umasks to
a directory ...

You could try setting umask=077 in
/etc/profile
which would mean that new programs you install
as root may have wrong access rights (I don't know
debian well enough to be sure of how apt handles
permissions - it certainly would be a problem if
you installed from source)



Cheers,
Tink

Read through the man page for the mount command. You can have a umask option for a mounted partition. This is close to what you are asking about. Rather than a directory, you can create a seperate partition dedicated for certain types of files with particular group permissions and umask setting.

Another thing to consider, is changing the group ownership of a directory and only allowing execution permission for the group. Then a user who is not a member of the group will not be able to enter the directory.

I use Mandrake Linux. There is a cron scheduled program that checks the permission of files in directories. You may have a similar program running on your system which may be changing the permissions on your saved files. Something to check. If you have a similar program running on your system, you can set it up so the permissions of files in a particular directory are adjusted to your liking.

I think I tried to put `umask 77` in /etc/profile, but it didn't work. I'll try it again.

What I want is drwx--x--x for my home directory. And rw------- for all files, and rwx------ for all directories in it. I want execute permissions for my home directory because I tried to unset it and my public_html becomes inaccessible.

And yes, my /home is on a separate partition.

Thanks for the help. I am going to try the methods you suggested.

rxc

I read the man page of mount. I couldn't find a umask option for ext2 file system. It exists for fat, hpfs, ntfs and udf. How should I set the umask for an ext2 partition?

As for the x bits, just make the owning group something
that only apache is member of ... you don't need x for other
then.