Cron file permission help

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Cron file permission help

I have a cron set up to run every 5mins to fix file permissions for the SFTP server I have up.

Here is my script:

FOLDERS=/Volumes/Server/Trainer/*

logger Cron Perm Script Start

for f in $FOLDERS

do

if [ $f != "/Volumes/Server/Trainer/scripts" ]; then

user=`stat -f %u $f/uploads`

folder="${f}/uploads"

response=`chown -R $user $folder`

responsetwo=`chmod -R 770 $folder`

logger response $response $responsetwo

fi

done

logger Cron Perm Script End

exit 0

If I execute the script myself as root it works fine and all the permissions get fixed. It gets run fine through the cron service but it won't fix the permissions. I've tried to debug this numerous ways but haven't figured out what I'm doing wrong.

$folder has the right path.

$user is the right user id.

the logger calls show up in the console so I know it's running.

11-09-28 11:10:00.960 AM root: Cron Perm Script Start

11-09-28 11:10:00.965 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:00.969 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:00.975 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:00.980 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:00.985 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:00.990 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:00.994 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:00.999 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.004 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.009 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.013 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.018 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.023 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.027 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.032 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.037 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.041 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.046 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.050 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.055 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.061 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.065 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.070 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.078 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.083 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.089 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.095 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.100 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.106 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.112 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.118 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.124 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.129 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.134 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.140 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.145 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.149 AM root: response

11-09-28 11:10:01.151 AM root: Cron Perm Script End

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Posted on Sep 28, 2011 11:13 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

Community+ 2026

Level 10

743,009 points

Sep 28, 2011 11:20 AM in response to s-chilly

Only root can use chown to change anything.

(60727)

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Answer 2

s-chilly Author

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Sep 28, 2011 11:28 AM in response to Niel

It's running as root though.

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Answer 3

s-chilly Author

Level 1

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Sep 28, 2011 1:24 PM in response to s-chilly

So the chmod command is working fine. It's just the chmod command that isn't working.

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Answer 4

s-chilly Author

Level 1

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Sep 28, 2011 2:04 PM in response to s-chilly

Sorry, I mean chown isn't working.

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 28, 2011 3:24 PM in response to s-chilly

What are you expecting to see? Neither of those commands produces any output.

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Answer 6

s-chilly Author

Level 1

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Sep 28, 2011 4:18 PM in response to Linc Davis

i was hoping for possible errors but it produces nothing. not really sure how to debug this.

if i run the script from terminal as root it works perfectly and changes the owner and permissions properly. when it runs through the cron service only the permissions get changed properly. the cron runs as root so i'm not sure what the issue is.

if the cron user didn't have permissions to do chown, it wouldn't be able to do the chmod command either right?

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 28, 2011 4:31 PM in response to s-chilly

Add this line to the beginning of your script:

#! /bin/sh

Make sure that the owner-executable bit is set.

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Answer 8

s-chilly Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 28, 2011 4:39 PM in response to Linc Davis

Add this line to the beginning of your script:

#! /bin/sh

Ya already has that.

Make sure that the owner-executable bit is set.

File privs:

-rwx------ 1 root admin 465 Sep 28 10:36 perms_cron.sh

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Answer 9

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 28, 2011 5:06 PM in response to s-chilly

Change this:

user=`stat -f %u $f/uploads`

folder="${f}/uploads"

response=`chown -R $user $folder`

responsetwo=`chmod -R 770 $folder`

logger response $response $responsetwo

to this:

user=`stat -f %u "${f}/uploads"`

chown -R $user "$_"

chmod -R ug+rwX "$_"

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Answer 10

s-chilly Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 29, 2011 9:49 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for the help Linc.

user=`stat -f %u "${f}/uploads"`

Doesn't return anything.

chown -R $user "$_"

chmod -R ug+rwX "$_"

This won't work as $_ is the argument from the previous command so when you run the chmod command, $_ will be $user and not the directory from the stat command.

Grr this is really bugging me.

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