Introduction to Unix File Permission
A security system designed in UNIX. Taking into consideration the
multi-user operating system nature of UNIX that allows multiple
users access the system simultaneously. Rendering the system
vulnerable to external threats that may cause damage to the system
and lead to misleading of information, corrupting the data is termed as
UNIX File Permissions. A concept that is very important and
tremendously crucial so as to grant accesses to various users
appropriately, so that there’s no misuse on the part of the user, thus
providing security to users of the system whose access to the system
is regulated.
Unix File Permissions
Every File in Unix can have 3 types of owners. They can be as below:
User: A user is the default person who creates the file. This is
the real owner of the file and has full rights and permissions to
the file that is created.
Group: A group can have many users included in it. The users
that are included in a group will have similar permissions for all
the files to which the group has access to. For example, if a
project needs a particular group of people to have access then
you can add all these users to a group and then give them similar
permissions. This can only read or read and write permissions. It
saves the time of giving access to each user separately when
similar accesses are to be given.
Other: These are the users who need access to a file though
they are neither the owner nor a member of any group. This can
be anybody else who needs access to some particular work. The
permissions thus play an important role in this case.
Permissions
A file can have three kinds of permissions to it. Based on the type of
owner all the below three permissions can be given to all three types
of owners.
Read: By assigning this kind of permission you are giving a
user the authority of opening and reading the contents of the file.
You can see all its contents but do not have the permission or
rights for making any changes to it.
Write: The write permission enables the user to modify the
contents of the file. By applying this the user is given the
authority to read, modify, add, remove and rename the files
which are stored in a directory. Suppose a user has the write
access to file. The user can modify the file. They can also
remove or rename any files if they wish to.
Execute: An executable file on windows can be easily run with
its .exe file. But when it comes to Unix, a program cannot run
until it has the execute permission. If your user id does not give
the appropriate execute permission, then you will not be able to
execute it. You can still modify or read the contents of the file.
Changing Permissions
To change the permissions of a file or directory, you can make use of
the Chmod command. There are two ways in which the permissions
can be changed. It is the symbolic mode and absolute mode.
Chmod in Symbolic mode with Examples
If you are a beginner, then this is the easiest way for you to change
the permissions for the file. With this method, you can add, delete or
specify the permission which you can set as per the requirement.
‘+’: This adds the specified permissions to the file or directory
which is intended.
‘-‘: Thie removes the specified permissions to the file or
directory which is intended.
‘=’: This sets the specified permissions.
‘r”: This indicates read
‘w’: This indicates write
‘x’: This indicates execute
‘-‘: No permission
Let us take an example:
-rw-rw-r—as830b home
Here the first ‘-’ indicates that we are selecting a file.
If a d is added at the beginning like- drwxr, then it indicates that a
directory is being given the said permissions.
-rw-rw-r—as830b home
The first part -rw suggests that the owner as830b can read the file,
edit it but the user does not have to execute access since the access is
set to ‘-‘.
The second part rw-means that the user as830b can only read or write
or make changes to the file.
The third part r- – means that the user can only read the file.
Chmod in Absolute Mode with Examples
When you are using this mode you have to make use of the three-digit
octal number. This means this corresponds to below:
0: Permission denied —
1: Execute –x
2: Write -w-
3: Execute and Write -wx
4: Read r – –
5: Read and execute r-x
6: Read and write rw-
7: Read and write and execute rwx
When a command is given as chmod 764 file.txt, this means that the
owner can read, write and execute. The user group can read and write
while others can only read the file. Similarly, if the command changes
to chmod 777 file.txt, this means that the user can read write and
execute. The people in the user group can also do the same. In
addition to this then the world will also be able to make changes, edit
and execute.
The owners can also be denoted symbolically as:
U: user/owner
G: group
O: other
A: all
This can be used as chmod o=rwx file.txt, which means others are
being set to read write and execute. Adding execute to the user group
to execute can be set by using: chmod g+x file.txt
Conclusion
Unix is a multiuser system and hence needs setting up permissions
and ownership to files from the perspective of security. It has three
defined user groups and three types of permissions that can be set as
per the need. This can be for any group or user which needs the
specified permissions. The command ‘chmod’ enables in setting and
changing permissions to the users and groups. This helps in ensuring
that only authorized people are seeing the contents. Thus Unix
ensures that security is maintained and the data is also accessible to
multiple users at the same time.
