Re: [cobalt-users] Problems with Uploading webpages

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cobalt wrote:

> I tried using the /etc/passwd change for the default user directory, which
> would be the ultimate solution.

Why?  How?  All it does is changes the user's password.  Which you can
(and should) do from the gui.  It does NOTHING for permissions.

> The problem is that it when i change it
> from /home/sites/site7/users/username to /home/sites/site7/web, it gives
> them permission to view all the way down to the /home/sites directory.

Don't know where you got this idea from.

Read a good linux book.  Concentrate on permissions.

> It looks like the default is to allow the user to view two directories below
> what the passwd default path is set to.  See above.  Does anyone know how to
> change the default number of directories to be viewed from two, like above,
> to one?  I don't want the users to be able to view/manipulate other sites.

By default, users who FTP in cannot look at other sites.  Users who
telnet in can look at any world-readable file on the system (see below).

Each file (a directory is a file) has permissions set for the owner of
the file, for members of the group the file is assigned to, and for the
rest of the world...

Something like this...

 -rwxrwxrwx

or
 drwxrwxr--

or similar.

The "d" in the first column identifies a diretory.

Then there are three sets of three positions.  The first set of three is
for the owner of the file.  The second set of three is for the group. 
The third set of three is for the world at large.  "r" means okay to
read.  "w" means okay to write.  "x" means okay to execute.  To see how
to make changes:

$ man chmod

Of course changing permissions can destroy the RaQs ability to run. 
Please make sure you know what you're doing, or hire someone who does.

> Any ideas on how to keep them in the /home/sites/site7/ directory?

If you did that, then they couldn't upload a site, which must go into
the /home/sites/site7/web directory, and subdirectories of that.

I'm finishing up a how-to on making RaQ sites quite a bit more secure; I
may put it into the Cobalt KB, but I want to talk to someone at Cobalt
about some of the things I do first.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672
Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 787-8589  *  fax: (909) 782-0205