5.3 Managing File Permissions and Ownership

Question 1

Permissions

drwxrwxr-x

the d indicates

Answer 1

file type - directory

Question 2

Permissions

drwxrwxr-x

3 chars after d indicate permissions for

Answer 2

owner and user

Question 3

Permissions

drwxrwxr-x

The next three characters, rwx, indicate the permissions of the

Answer 3

group owning the file also referred to as g

Question 4

Permissions

drwxrwxr-x

the last 3 chars r-x indicate permissions for

Answer 4

anyone else aka other or o

Question 5

permission

filetypes

contain data of any kind and can be modified, moved, copied and deleted

Answer 5

• (normal file)

Question 6

permission

filetypes

y contains other files or directories and helps to organize the file system. Technically,
directories are a special kind of file

Answer 6

d (directory)

Question 7

permission

filetypes

is a pointer to another file or directory elsewhere in the filesystem.

Answer 7

l (softlink)

Question 8

permission

filetypes

a virtual or physical device, usually disks or other kinds of storage devices.
For example, the first hard disk in the system might be represented by /dev/sda

Answer 8

b (block device)

Question 9

permission

filetypes

virtual or physical device. Terminals (like the main terminal on
/dev/ttyS0) and serial ports are common examples of character devices

Answer 9

c (character device)

Question 10

permission

filetypes

s “conduits” passing information between two programs.

Answer 10

s (socket)

Question 11

permission

file permissions

Stands for read and has an octal value of 4 (don’t worry, we will discuss octals shortly). This
means permission to open a file and read its contents

Answer 11

r

Question 12

permission

file permissions

Stands for write and has an octal value of 2. This means permission to edit or delete a file

Answer 12

w

Question 13

permission

file permissions

Stands for execute and has an octal value of 1. This means that the file can be run as an
executable or script.

Answer 13

x

Question 13

permission

directory permissions

Stands for read and has an octal value of 4. This means permission to read the directory’s
contents, like filenames. But it does not imply permission to read the files themselves.

Answer 13

r

Question 14

permission

directory permissions

Stands for write and has an octal value of 2. This means permission to create or delete files in a
directory, or change their names, permissions and owners. If a user has the write permission
on a directory, the user can change permissions of any file in the directory, even if the user has
no permissions on the file or if the file is owned by another user

Answer 14

w

Question 15

permission

directory permissions

Stands for execute and has an octal value of 1. This means permission to enter a directory, but
not to list its files (for that, the r permission is needed).

Answer 15

x