filesystem permissions question - making so user can't change permissions?
 

Hello,

I need to allow users to read, create and modify files and subdirectories but I don't want them to be able to modify the owner or permissions, can this be done with filesystem permissions? Using CentOS 5.5.

I don't think there is a way to do this with the standard Unix permissions. If you can write to a file, you can change permissions.

However, if you have time on your hands and can learn to use SELinux, there should be a way to do it there.

You can get close to the desired effect with shared group membership, and then group ownership (with the sgid bit on directories) for the files.

The problem is: when a user creates a new file s/he will be the owner.

Selinux is one idea for solving that problem. Another is removing read/execute permissions from /bin/chmod and /bin/chown for everyone but root. (That may have some other unintended consequences, though.)

ok, thanks for the info, it's appreciated.

marking thread as solved, since my real question was can this be done with the standard file permissions, and I got the answer, it can not. But thanks for the possible alternatives, I appreciate it.