lo there all,
i have a user that needs to be able to write to many different files that usually only the root user would be able to do.
for example, i need to be able to write to /usr/lib/python/site_packages to put system wide access to python modules.
also needs to be able to edit scripts in the /var/www folder owned by www-data
also need to be able to edit scripts in agi_bin for asterisk and write software that can write files to the aseterisk directory.

so, how do i give said user permission to edit, read, delete etc... files in all of these directories ?

thanks for any tips.

You could create a new group, set the group write permission on the files you require that user to have access to and change the group of the files accordingly.

You can probably use groups to do that. Make a list of the files you want access to and their current owners. Create a new group, say "access", and make your user and all the current owners of those files members of the access group. Change the group ownership of those files to the access group and give the access group rwx permissions on those files.

ok, if i create an access group, can i have directories belong to that group? then files can be created in that group ?

also, if i change ownership of say /var/www to access will that mess up the group www-data from having the access to that folder to run the web server ?

or would it be easier to add the user to all the groups necessary (www-data, asterisk, ftp-user, etc..)
thanks

What is the owner and group of these files at present? root / www-data? If so, maybe it's enough to add your user to the www-data group.

Note that you have to log the user out and in again for new group settings to take effect.

You can, of course, use ACLs.
Using ACLs, you can give explicit permissions to a specifc user or users, besides the regular access mode.
Check if your kernel and filesystem support ACLs and check the setfacl and getfacl man pages.

It is better than mess you groups just for a few users/files.