permissions question

fluidicslave · 07-23-2006, 06:05 PM

is it possible to use permissions in order to hide the home directorys of a single user from all other useres and if so how.?

I dont even want the other useres to know that the home directory exsitss

Matir · 07-23-2006, 06:49 PM

Making the contents invisible is very simple: just use chmod 700 DIRECTORY. This will set permissions to drwx------, allowing only the owner to read/write/list in that directory. Hiding the directory would be problematic because you'd have to deny read permissions to /home, unless you place that user's home directory somewhere else in the system.

Is there a particular reason you don't want other users to know the directory exists?

spooon · 07-23-2006, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fluidicslave

I dont even want the other useres to know that the home directory exsitss

All users have a home directory (so of course it exists). The home directory info for all users is publicly readable by everyone in /etc/passwd or similar file.

jtshaw · 07-23-2006, 08:22 PM

The only way I have found to do this is a chroot jail.

The jail is basically a file system containing just the stuff the user needs and nothing else that the user gets chrooted too when he/she logs in.

Matir · 07-23-2006, 08:52 PM

Unfortunately, chroot jails have one significant disadvantage: software for use by users must be installed into each user's chroot jail, though this can be made easier by a bind mount. (Binding a partition for /usr, /etc, etc. for each user into their directory). In any case, chroot jails are generally impractical for large numbers of users on the same system.