[SOLVED] Question mark characters appear when changing the permissions of directory recursivel

gonny95 · 02-20-2014, 05:55 PM

When I change permissions recursively ,for example:

Code:

chmod -R +rw /opt/VirtualBox

Then the permissions of all subfiles and subdirectories become questionmarks such as
d?????????
d?????????
-?????????
-?????????

jpollard · 02-21-2014, 01:02 PM

Basically, don't do that.

The places I've seen the ??? form are where the directory is a fuse mountpoint, and the implementation doesn't support it.

Since you didn't list what the contents of /opt/VirtualBox, it is a bit harder to go any farther.

Habitual · 02-21-2014, 03:03 PM

I'd think the installation of Virtualbox would set these permissions. They did on my host.
So why are you trying to change them?

What precipitated this action?

See http://susepaste.org/31236612 for a dump of what mine are.

It should be used as an indicator of what may need to be done, and in no way an instruction for you to replicate those on your host.

It all depends on why you are trying to change them.

gonny95 · 02-21-2014, 06:14 PM

That was what I just took as an example
This is the problem of not only /opt/VirtualBox but also every folder which contains many subfiles and directories

astrogeek · 02-21-2014, 06:29 PM

The ???? result from having read but not execute permission on the directories.

I suspect that you may have done chmod -R 644 or chmod -R -x instead of chmod -R +rw.

In any event, use find to fix the directory permissions and then use find to change only the file permissions recursively.

gonny95 · 02-21-2014, 06:47 PM

Yeah Thanks! that was the execute permission on a folder.
Is it necessary that a folder has a execute permission?

astrogeek · 02-21-2014, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonny95

Yeah Thanks! that was the execute permission on a folder.
Is it necessary that a folder has a execute permission?

Yes, in directory context the execute bit means that you have permission to traverse the directory. Having read, but not execute says that you can see the files in the directory but cannot access the inode information inside it. Hence, you see the files but not their permissions.

Find a quick reference here, or search for Unix directory permissions - it is a Unix thing.

gonny95 · 02-21-2014, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrogeek

Yes, in directory context the execute bit means that you have permission to traverse the directory. Having read, but not execute says that you can see the files in the directory but cannot access the inode information inside it. Hence, you see the files but not their permissions.

Find a quick reference here, or search for Unix directory permissions - it is a Unix thing.

Thank you sooooo much!!!!!!

astrogeek · 02-21-2014, 07:06 PM

You are welcome!