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mediumlinux~20 min

A shared folder the whole team can use

The dev team shares /srv/projects, and the last "fix" was chmod 777. Set real group ownership, group collaboration rights, setgid inheritance, and lock everyone else out.

Scenario

The dev team collaborates in /srv/projects. It was created as root:root 755, so nobody could write to it, and someone "fixed" that with chmod 777. Now every account on the box, including the intern's scraper and whatever runs as nobody, can write (and delete) the team's work.

There's a developers group with exactly the right members. Use it.

Starting state

drwxrwxrwx  root root  /srv/projects     (after the 777 "fix")

Your job

Write the commands in fix.sh (they are applied in order) so that:

  • the directory is group-owned by developers,
  • group members have full read/write/traverse access,
  • the setgid bit is set, so files created inside inherit the developers group instead of each author's primary group,
  • everyone outside the group has no access at all.

What "done" looks like

ls -ld /srv/projects shows drwxrws--- root developers, a developers member can create and edit files, and any other user gets permission denied.

Teaches: group ownership, the setgid bit on directories, and why mode 777 is never the fix.

What gets checked

Your solution is verified against each of these:

  • /srv/projects is group-owned by developers
  • A developers member can read, write and enter the directory
  • The setgid bit is set so new files inherit the developers group
  • Users outside the group can neither read nor write it

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