[SOLVED] New debian install - what permissions to give the user

TxLonghorn · 02-22-2016, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgsboson

Is there any way of returning ownership of /home to root?

Please post the result of the command:

Code:

ll /home

hydrurga · 02-22-2016, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgsboson

Yes, this command is a little more intuitive. Did you do this yourself?

Well, my Linux user/group name isn't actually hydrurga, but yes, I have used that command in that format in the past.

Higgsboson · 02-22-2016, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

Please post the result of the command:

Code:

ll /home

Code:

root@debian:/home/user# ll /home
bash: ll: command not found

For some reason it's not seeing the command.

hydrurga · 02-22-2016, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgsboson

Code:

root@debian:/home/user# ll /home
bash: ll: command not found

For some reason it's not seeing the command.

ll is an alias for ls -l or ls -lF (or ls with other parameters!), but not on all systems.

You can post the results of ls -l (or ls -la in case there are any hidden files/directories) instead.

Higgsboson · 02-22-2016, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

Please post the result of the command:

Code:

ll /home

Here is the output:

Code:

user@debian:~$ ls -l
total 1017272
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Desktop
drwxrwxrwx 7 user user       4096 Feb 20 21:28 Documents
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 19 10:17 Downloads
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Music
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 19 14:12 Pictures
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Public
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Templates
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Videos

TxLonghorn · 02-22-2016, 09:58 AM

Thanks to hydrurga for pointing out that "ll" is not used on all systems.
So to get the results for /home the command you need to run would be:

Code:

ls -la /home

hydrurga · 02-22-2016, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgsboson

Here is the output:

Code:

user@debian:~$ ls -l
total 1017272
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Desktop
drwxrwxrwx 7 user user       4096 Feb 20 21:28 Documents
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 19 10:17 Downloads
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Music
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 19 14:12 Pictures
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Public
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Templates
drwxrwxrwx 2 user user       4096 Feb 17 15:03 Videos

That looks more like the listing of the /home/higgsboson directory (or whatever you call yourself), not /home.

You should run the latest command that TxLonghorn suggested.

Higgsboson · 02-22-2016, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

Thanks to hydrurga for pointing out that "ll" is not used on all systems.
So to get the results for /home the command you need to run would be:

Code:

ls -la /home

Ok, this is the output:

Code:

user@debian:~$ ls -la /home
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user 4096 Feb 17 14:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 22 root  root  4096 Feb 19 10:32 ..
drwxrwxrwx 23 user user 4096 Feb 22 15:02 user

TxLonghorn · 02-22-2016, 10:23 AM

That shows that you have only one user called "user", so there were no other users affected. That is good.
To change the owner of the /home directory back to root, as it should be, simply enter

Code:

sudo chown root:root /home

Higgsboson · 02-22-2016, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

That shows that you have only one user called "user", so there were no other users affected. That is good.
To change the owner of the /home directory back to root, as it should be, simply enter

Code:

sudo chown root:root /home

I have now done this. However, I now get the output:

Code:

root@debian:/home/user# ls -la /home
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  root  4096 Feb 17 14:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 22 root  root  4096 Feb 19 10:32 ..
drwxrwxrwx 23 user user 4096 Feb 22 15:02 user

Doesn't this mean 'user' still rwx ownership of /home?

hydrurga · 02-22-2016, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgsboson

I have now done this. However, I now get the output:

Code:

root@debian:/home/user# ls -la /home
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  root  4096 Feb 17 14:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 22 root  root  4096 Feb 19 10:32 ..
drwxrwxrwx 23 user user 4096 Feb 22 15:02 user

Doesn't this mean 'user' still rwx ownership of /home?

No.

The three entries refer to three separate directories.

The first entry refers to /home - root owns this
The second entry refers to / - root owns this
The third entry refers to /home/user - user owns this

"rwx" and ownership are separate filesystem characteristics, so "rwx ownership" doesn't make much sense.

I have to say however, on a rwx basis, my system has rwx------ for /home/user, but perhaps this is simply a difference in how our respective systems are set up.

TxLonghorn · 02-22-2016, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

I have to say however, on a rwx basis, my system has rwx------ for /home/user, but perhaps this is simply a difference in how our respective systems are set up.

Right. Mine is the same as Higgsboson.

Now, to fix the ownership on your data partition, post the result of

Code:

sudo lsblk -o name,size,fstype,mountpoint,label

and tell us the which is the one you want to access.

Higgsboson · 02-22-2016, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

The three entries refer to three separate directories.

The first entry refers to /home - root owns this
The second entry refers to / - root owns this
The third entry refers to /home/user - user owns this

I see. This is very helpful to know as it's not so clear from the output.

Quote:

"rwx" and ownership are separate filesystem characteristics, so "rwx ownership" doesn't make much sense.

Yes, I should've said rwx permission, as opposed to 'ownership'.

Higgsboson · 02-22-2016, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

Now, to fix the ownership on your data partition, post the result of

Code:

sudo lsblk -o name,size,fstype,mountpoint,label

and tell us the which is the one you want to access.

This is what I get:

Code:

root@debian:/home/user# lsblk -o name,size,fstype,mountpoint,label
NAME     SIZE FSTYPE MOUNTPOINT LABEL
fd0        4K                   
sda    149.1G                   
├─sda1  39.1G ext4              
├─sda2  39.1G ext4              
├─sda3  39.1G ext4              
├─sda4     1K                   
├─sda5     4G swap   [SWAP]     
├─sda6  14.3G ext4              
└─sda7  13.6G ext4              
sdb    931.5G                   
├─sdb1   160G ntfs              
├─sdb2    15G ext4              
└─sdb4   100G ext4   /          
sr0     1024M

The two data partitions the user needs to access will be sda6 and sda7.
I'll be doing this for all the sole users on my other OSs.
However, from a best practice point of view, what ownership/permission should the user be assigned?
I think this is important for me to learn because previously my users tended to have similar privileges to root.

It has just occurred to me that 'user' still has ownership of /home on my other OSs.
In which case, if I booted each OS and ran the cmd

Code:

chown root:root /home

will this return ownership of /home to root as it has done with this OS?

TxLonghorn · 02-22-2016, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgsboson

However, from a best practice point of view, what ownership/permission should the user be assigned?
I think this is important for me to learn because previously my users tended to have similar privileges to root.

You can create standard users who do not have sudo privileges, and you can create administrative users who do have sudo rights.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgsboson

The two data partitions the user needs to access will be sda6 and sda7.

Do you want to automount sda6 and sda7 everytime you boot, or do you just want to mount them whenever you need them?

Running that command on the other OS's is fine.