Root unable to change ownership and modify permissions

[Nils Kassube]

Basil Chupin wrote:
> On 20/04/10 15:06, I Am Me wrote:
> > root at thishost:~# chown -R iamme /media/Andrew/Protected/Projects/

> > root at thishost:~# chmod 755 /media/Andrew/Protected/Projects/ 

> Am I missing something here (and everywhere for that matter) but
>  aren't the commands for chown and chmod should read:
> 
> chown -R <login-name/owner-name>.<group-name>
>  <directory-path-and-name> <<<==Note the 'period'!

You _can_ use that form of the command but the originally used command 
works as well. It just doesn't change the group but only the user. And 
BTW, the period is obsolete, nowadays we use a colon (see man chown).

> chmod -R u=rwx,g=rx,o= <directory-path-and-name>
> 
> where the u, g, and o parameters are set to the choice you want?

No, the original command wasn't recursive and I assume that it was used 
this way on purpose. But if you object to the 755 - well, using an octal 
number for the mode is a valid command option again (see man chmod).


Nils