Valid "PUBLIC" directories

[john guardian]

Question: Looking for a consensus...

Which of the following would you consider TRULY public?

drwxrwx__T root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test0
drwxrwx__t root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test1
drwxrwx_wT root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test2
drwxrwx_wt root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test3
drwxrwxr_T root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test4
drwxrwxr_t root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test5
drwxrwxrwT root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test6
drwxrwxrwt root sys 512 Mar 4 09:33 test7

NOTE the filename testN where N=mode (for world ONLY).

My contention is that the only true public dir is test7. And that is IF-AND-ONLY-IF the parent dir for test7 also allows (world) the access required to read/write and cd to it and test7...

Comments? Thanks.

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi John:

I think you have to define what you mean by a "public" directory. Is that simply readable by anyone or must that be readable and writable by all.

Regards!

...JRF...

[john guardian]

Well, to me a PUBLIC directory is just that... wide open to the public. Ergo, they would have to have "complete" access to that directory... hence the test7 (initial question) entry where world has rwx privs.

Secondarily, as I originally stated, my assumption would also be that the only way (if all other conditions are met) that this could be truly public is if the "parent" (let's call the parent dir "TEST") also allows "world" access to itself, thus allowing access to the (child) public dir test7.

Does that make more sense? Thanks.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) John:

> Well, to me a PUBLIC directory is just that... wide open to the public. Ergo, they would have to have "complete" access to that directory... hence the test7 (initial question) entry where world has rwx privs.

Again, definitions matter. I might funcionally perceive a directory to be PUBLIC as long as I can read its contents. That doesn't mean that I can write (add or remove) contents within.

> Secondarily, as I originally stated, my assumption would also be that the only way (if all other conditions are met) that this could be truly public is if the "parent" (let's call the parent dir "TEST") also allows "world" access to itself, thus allowing access to the (child) public dir test7.

I don't disagree with this assumption since it is necessary for the first defintion to be met.

Regards!

...JRF...

[john guardian]

Thanks for the response.