hi, quick question: how do allow a specific user full permissions over a specific folder, subfolders, and files within? (read/write/exec/delete/etc). I've read a bunch of man pages and I'm more confused now than before, and I don't want to mess things without asking first

Try:
chown -R /path/to/directory
chmod -R o+rwx /path/to/directory

You can assign ownership with the chown command:

chown -R user /directory-or-file

And then set the correct permissions on the directory or file:

chmod -R 755 /directory-or-file

More info in the man pages:

man chown
man chmod

Some other helpful or alternatives to use:

man chgrp
man passwd

Quick tutorial here on chmod:

1 = Execute
2 = Write
4 = Read

1+2 = 3 (Execute+Write permissions)
1+4 = 5 (Execute+Read permissions)
2+4 = 6 (Write+Read permissions)
1+2+3 = 7 (Execute+Write+Read Permissions)

here is a little more in depth thingy-majiggy:
chmod owner|group|other <folder||file>
so, if you wanted lets say only the group, and the owner to be able to do Execute+Write+Read, and no one else you'd use:

chmod 770 <folder||file>

hope that helps..

(btw, if the directory you want to give access to the user isn't already the owner or atleast part of that group, use chown, or chgrp)

ie:

chgrp users <folder>
cown 770 <folder>

again, hope that helps

Permissions can be modified using chmod (options) filename
just an example...
' ls -l junk4 '
-rwxr-xr-x 1 foo bar 6514 Aug 1 10:34 junk4
the first set refers to user, second to group, third to other
so
user = rwx
group = r-x
other = r-x

I personally use numbers to change permissions but you can use the letters if the numbers don't make sense...
what the numbers mean:
0 = no permission
1 = execute
2 = write
4 = read
You can add the numbers to change the permissions to what you want.
so 1+4=5 = r-x
2+4=6 = rw-
1+2+4=7 = rwx

So if I want a file to have rwxrw-r-- permissions I would do chmod 764 filename

You can also change using letters
u=user
g=group
o=other
a=all
then use + - or = to what you want
so chmod a-x will remove execute permissions for all users
chmod u+rwx will add rwx to the user

check out the man page 'man chmod' it explains other options and flags you can use...
edit:
Maybe I need to type faster or something... Best advice is make a file and mess with permissions until you are comfortable...

ok, well, this is a stupid question i'm sure, but is there a way for me to tell linux that i'm the owner?
i'm trying to install the java sdk, and as per some instructions on this help page (step 3)

http://www.goland.org/Tech/Installin...drake_9_1.html

i need to alter the .bashrc but i can't make changes to it

it says i do not have permissions to change the permissions, so, i need to "become" the owner so to speak. and considering this is my computer, i think i should be allowed that property

any help on solving my own lack of knowedge?
thanks muchly

me = very -->

The .bashrc file is the one in your home directory, yes? If you can't change it as yourself, try using su (or su -) to become root and then change the permissions as per the above instructions.

You probably ought to get familiar with the chown command. It allows you to change ownership on files like .bashrc.
example: chown username .bashrc

it still didn't work
i tried using chown as both root and as myself, and it didn't give me an error msg or anything, but i still can't save changes to .bashrc

ne other ideas?
thanks
coupace

Do you have write permission to the file?
ls -l /path/to/.bashrc

ok, i'm not sure what i did, i logged in as root and changed some permissions that it wudn't change b4 (even as su) and then went back to my user and then it let me save it soo, all's well that ends well thanks for ur help ppl!
coupace

Su doesn't seem to have all of the permissions. I believe that if you use 'su -' then you get full permissions. Glad to hear it worked, though.

The permissions should still be the same. Running "su -" starts a new shell for the user you are suing to - this is useful for loading extra paths such as /sbin automatically.

Thanks david_ross, I was repeating something I read against a different question. I didn't think it was fully correct, but as no one corrected the person I took it as read.