How to make a directory permanently writable?

Question

I am using LAMP stack for development and I have a problem with making /var/www permanently writable. I use this command:

sudo chmod -R a+rwX /var/www

This works, but after putting a web app and accessing it through a browser, it show a "permission denied" error. When that happens, I have to the execute the command again.

How can I make the directory writable, permanently, without having to run the command again?

Thanks!

create a subfolder in /var/www and change permisson for that directory. That should fix the issue — Anam Ahmed, Mar 08 '13 at 06:57
Actually you should never ever make web root writable. See For security reasons why should /var/www not have chmod 777? — Goran Miskovic, Mar 08 '13 at 07:09
these are some good comments above... considering the security reasons, you should keep permission for /var/www to default rwxr-xr-x and you'd probably move the required files to a sub-directory in /var/www and make changes to your *html files accordingly for the changes you've made to the document root. — rusty, Dec 09 '13 at 16:03

score 62 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 24 '14 at 06:53

Numeric permissions can solve your problem.

sudo chmod 775 'your directory'

if you want to know why only 775 here's your answer

400 read by owner
040 read by group
004 read by anybody
200 write by owner
020 write by group
002 write by anybody
100 execute by owner
010 execute by group
001 execute by anybody

 400
+040
+004
+200
+020
+100
+010
+001
=775

It will give all permission except write by anybody.

score 22 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 17 '16 at 14:38

22

I had the same problem then

sudo chmod 777 directory

solved it.

That makes the directory writable, readable and executable by anybody. So doesn't matter what user or group owned it or used Lampp.

However, that isn't recommended if your computer is public access.

edited Oct 17 '16 at 14:38

Thomas

6,223

answered Oct 17 '16 at 13:23

M Cornel

329
2
4

it works on macOS. – Sabrina Dec 27 '20 at 11:35

score 14 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 10 '14 at 06:36

14

Usually the command you used should change the permissions permanently.

Try sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/ (which basically is the same). If that doesn't work you might need to change the owner [and maybe the group] of the directory via sudo chown <user>[:<group>] /var/www/.

Also, you might consider the 'permission denied error' could be caused by insufficient access rights in your database or elsewhere.

edited Jan 10 '14 at 06:36

Rinzwind

299,756

answered Mar 08 '13 at 07:10

David

908

But as @schkovich already mentioned you should not make the web root folder writeable. – David Mar 08 '13 at 07:12
19

+Rinzwind I used 777 and am patiently waiting your visit. – Marcel Nov 30 '14 at 18:26
it worked for me if i use it without slashes e.g sudo chmod -R 775 my_folder – Yarh Jul 26 '16 at 12:50
1

@Marcel is now dead guys, @ Rinzwind ended him – some_groceries Dec 19 '16 at 12:51
@Dheeraj Then who is this... – Marcel Dec 19 '16 at 18:53
4

@Marcel how do we know its the real you, what if @ Rinzwind tore marcel's face and wore it. – some_groceries Dec 20 '16 at 07:06
Thanks @Marcel! Using 777 worked for me when 775 and nothing else worked! Now my folder is finally writable! (Sorry @Rinzwind). – Joe Sep 19 '17 at 21:55

How to make a directory permanently writable?

3 Answers3