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Date:      Mon, 22 Jan 2001 05:59:11 +0100
From:      Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net>
To:        Dru <genisis@istar.ca>
Cc:        Chip <chip@wiegand.org>, "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: files with an asterisk are not editable - why?
Message-ID:  <20010122055911.G1639@raggedclown.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0101212007360.12625-100000@genisis>; from genisis@istar.ca on Sun, Jan 21, 2001 at 08:12:46PM -0500
References:  <3A6B863C.380F6552@wiegand.org> <Pine.BSF.4.21.0101212007360.12625-100000@genisis>

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On Sun, Jan 21, 2001 at 08:12:46PM -0500, Dru wrote:
> 
> 
> On Sun, 21 Jan 2001, Chip wrote:
> 
> > I ran ls -lF and got the class assignment files listed
> > with the asterisk, owned by myself (not root).
> > I then ran ls -lf and got a similar listing but the files
> > in question do not have the asterisk.
> > I ran ll and got a listing that was the same as running
> > ls -lF except the files in question did not have the
> > asterisks.
> > In the man page, ls(1), an asterisk means that the file
> > is executable. How does a .html file, or a .gif file, 
> > get the executable attribute? Could it be because I first 
> > created some of these as root on a floppy, then copied them
> > to my user directory? Since I was not able to work on them
> > as a user, I chmod 777 the files so I could work on them. 

*Sigh* .. don;t chmod 777 everything.. it really is a bad thing to do
and yes this is the reason your html files etc have the -x- bit
set...

The permissions system in Unix has a reason.
The execute permission bit on files not meant to be executed can
be very dangerous, especially as root. Consider executing
a document that had a warning about "rm -rf *" in it, and
gave as an example the line "rm -rf *" on a line all on it's
own.... :(

Cliff


> > That may be where the executable flag comes from? I was 
> > not able to work on the floppy as a user, only as root.
> 
> I've had this problem before when copying files back and forth to
> floppies; I find it strange that they weren't owned by root.
> 
> However, if I use mtools or mfm, I don't have these problems as I can 
> transfer files back and forth between my home directory and a floppy
> without having to become root to mount the floppy first. You can find a
> tutorial on using these tools at:
> 
> http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/bsd/2000/12/13/FreeBSD_Basics.html
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Dru
> 
> 
> 
> 
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