Cheat sheet for Linux users and permissions

Download our new cheat sheet for managing Linux users and permissions.
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Original photo by Rikki Endsley. CC BY-SA 4.0

The Linux operating system is a true multi-user OS, meaning it assumes that there's data on every computer that should be protected, whether in the interest of privacy, security, or system integrity.

Linux uses file ownership and permissions to manage file and folder access. 

For administrators who deal with different user environments all day, this system is easy to understand, calculate, and control.

For users still learning Linux, or for users who learned Linux primarily in a single-user environment, file access can seem restrictive and confusing.

Our Linux Permissions cheat sheet covers important file and directory access commands to help you understand and manipulate which user and group member can see shared data on your Linux computer.

This cheat sheet is part of a larger set that includes Linux Networking, SELinux, and common Linux Commands.

Next time you find yourself unable to read, write, or execute a file on your system, refer to this cheat sheet to understand why, and to remember how to fix the problem.

Download our Linux users and permissions cheat sheet today!

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Seth Kenlon
Seth Kenlon is a UNIX geek, free culture advocate, independent multimedia artist, and D&D nerd. He has worked in the film and computing industry, often at the same time.

4 Comments

What the cheat sheet lacks is the for me the most straightforward way of using chmod:

chmod 754 somefile.py

7 = r (4) + w (2) + x (1)
5 = r (4) + x (1)
4 = r (4)

I never use umask since it seems backwards or inside out to me.

Great suggestion, Greg. I've jotted it down in my source file for inclusion, should we do an update sometime in the future.

Thanks Seth, I will be teaching a module on Linux next year and am certain my students will find the Opensource.com cheat sheets valuable.

Interesting and informative in a succinct way. However, I'm curious about your use of 'etc/profile' vs 'etc/profile.d' to protect users from needing to do manual merges of updates to that file in the future, at least on Fedora/RHEL distros, should there be any updates? I know that you use Slackware and as such, it may not be an issue there.

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