Why doesn't a wildcard chmod change "dot" files/directories?

jht2k · 08-09-2004, 02:24 PM

Hi,

I'm trying to change the permissions in a user's home directory after the permissions "went a bit wrong". The obvious thing to do would be to run the following in their home directory:

chmod -R * 777

This should recursively set read/write/execute for user/group/world on all files and all subdirectories, but for some strange reason, it doesn't change hidden file s (those beginning with ".").

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers

Jon

david_ross · 08-09-2004, 02:31 PM

Try using:
chmod -R 777 /path/to/dir

You also probbaly don't want to use 777 as that will give anybody on the system full access to the directory.