Ownership, group and premission changing problem

gubak · 05-07-2007, 07:18 AM

How do I change the ownership, group and the premission of files like:

Code:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Jan 28 07:20 default_pref -> ../../../../etc/squirrelmail/default_pref

If I try:

Code:

chown apache default_pref
chgrp apache default_pref
chmod 600 default_pref

Nothings happens!

Please help me!

jay73 · 05-07-2007, 07:28 AM

Are you sure you are doing this as root?

Also make sure you first cd to the directory that contains the file you want to set permissions on.

bsdunix · 05-07-2007, 07:35 AM

Quote:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Jan 28 07:20 default_pref

Why do you need to change the permissions on a symbolic link?

Quote:

../../../../etc/squirrelmail/default_pref

The real permissions are on the target file.

"The file-system permissions on the symbolic (or soft) link have no relevance: the permissions set on the file to which the symlink points control the access rights."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link

gubak · 05-07-2007, 07:41 AM

Yes I am root.

Quote:

Also make sure you first cd to the directory that contains the file you want to set permissions on.

You think to go into the directory that contains the file with the command CD?

I forget to say something.
When I do anything (chmod, chown, chgrp) with that file, another file has been changing (/etc/squirrelmail/default_pref).
For example if I want to change the ownership of the file /var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/default_pref from root to apache, this file doesn't change but the file /etc/squirrelmail/default_pref changes.

gubak · 05-07-2007, 07:45 AM

Hi bsdunix!

Quote:

Why do you need to change the permissions on a symbolic link?

Because I can't use squirrelmail (webmail). When I want to see mails and type username and password to login I get the following error:

Code:

Error
Error opening /var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/default_pref
Could not create initial preference file!
/var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/ should be writable by user apache
Please contact your system administrator and report this error.

jay73 · 05-07-2007, 08:21 AM

chmod 775 /var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs?

bsdunix · 05-07-2007, 08:28 AM

Quote:

/var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/ should be writable by user apache

chown apache /var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs?

alexander_bosakov · 05-07-2007, 03:39 PM

You need to change the permissions of the file the link points to.

gubak · 05-08-2007, 12:23 AM

Whatever I do I have the same problem.
So one more time:

Squirrelmail is installed. As soon as I go to www.mydomain.com/webmail the squirrelmail login page appears. I type the password and username, but when I click on the submit button I get an error:

Quote:

Error opening /var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/default_pref
Could not create initial preference file!
/var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/ should be writable by user apache
Please contact your system administrator and report this error.

The directory /var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/ owned by apache and is in apache group. The premission is 775.
/var/lib/squirrelmail/prefs/default_pref is a symbolic link to the /etc/squirrelmail/default_pref. The file /etc/squirrelmail/default_pref is owned by apache and is in apache group. The file premission is 775.

This problem happening at every user.

Does somebody have any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

jay73 · 05-08-2007, 01:29 AM

http://lists.olug.org/pipermail/olug...er/006588.html