Issue
On our ubuntu linux server: I got a permission error when access: /home/abc/data/. I was told I need to be added to the abc group. They added me. I am still having the same permission error when cd to that directory. Then they told me I have to sudo su - abc
to switch to abc user to access that directory.
Why do I have to su to abc since I am in the abc group already? Is abc a user, not a group? I am confused.
Solution
abc
might be a user, or a group, or both -- which depends on how your system is set up, but generally on Ubuntu, every user has a corresponding group with the same name. So it is probably both a user and a group.
Accessing the directory in question might be a question of either user or group permissions. Try doing ls -ld /home/abc
, which will show you the permissions on that directory. It will give you an output something like
drwxr-xr-x 248 abc abc 16384 Feb 24 09:17 /home/abc
The letters at the beginning are the permissions. In this case the first rwx
are the 'user' permissions (meaning the user abc
has read, write, and execute permission here) while the second r-x
are the 'group' permissions, (meaning group abc
has read and execute permissions, but not write permissions).
If the group permissions are adequate for what you want to do, you need only be in group abc
. If on the other hand, you need something only allowed by the user permissions, you need to be user abc
. The latter is generally considered bad form and a mis-configuration.
To see what groups you are a member of, use the groups
command.
Answered By - Chris Dodd Answer Checked By - Terry (WPSolving Volunteer)