[Guide]Noob Guide To Set File Permission's [28-08-2012]

Hey Guys i have often seen lot of Question regarding the same "How to set the file permission,sorry i am a noob please explain?"
well this we come across on all threads, at some given point of time.

Reason being simple that we suggest some people to do as said below:

Hey,
1) copy the file XXXX to your Internal or External sd-card.
2) push the file XXXX to sytem/xxxx folder.
3) set permissions to rw-r--r-- blah blah blah.
4) reboot your phone and see.

Then comes the question again from the same people as below:

Hey,
1) I have done accordingly, but really confused regarding File permission though please explain?

2) How to set File Permission?

3) what is rw-r--r-- blah blah i cannot get it? etc.

So this Simple Guide will defenetly help the people with the same.

Let me not go in depth regarding the same,Since this excellent Tutorial from Matt Doyle explain's in more detail about it
Understanding File Permissions- by Matt Doyle

In order to set the file permission all you need is to have Root explore/Browser or similar type of File manager app been installed on your phone, with Root access.

when you open the File manager you see all your files and folder listed there, thats not our main concern, but something below each one of those file's or folder's, what we are really interested in like:

under say Data folder you see something like 'rwxrwx--x' which is of real concern here.

when you long press on the same Data Folder a pop appears as below

Fig 1


and when you select Permissions in that pop up menu it appears as below.

Fig 2


as you can see in the pic above the permission is set to 'rwxrwx--x' (771 according to Table below)

So in order to set the right Permission for a file, after you have copied the file to the relavent folder, all you have to follow is the below steps and also the Table guide below it.

1)Any File Manager app like Root Explorer/Browser,Es-file explorer installed with root access (Do ensure to Mount as R/W (Read/Write)).

2)Find the File which you have copied to the appropriate Folder for which you have to set Permissions with the above installed file manager app.

3) Long press on the file to open a pop up menu as shown in Fig 1 above.

4)Set Permission accordingly ( been suggested by people for you) using the table guide below as reference.

5) Then reboot your phone for the same (Permission set) to take effect.


Table Guide for Reference
----------------------------------

No- Box is Unchecked, Yes- Box Checked




So, for example:

777 is the same as rwxrwxrwx

755 is the same as rwxr-xr-x

666 is the same as rw-rw-rw- and so on.

I do hope this Guide will come in handy to all those people who want to set filepermission, but need some clarity upon the same.

All Credit to Matt Doyle for his Excellent Tutorial on 'Understanding File Permissions' which being an inspiration for me to make this Guide.
And also like to Thank the XDA for this wonderfull Knowledge based Site.

All constructive Comments to improve the same by my fellow Member's are Welcome

thekingmen said:

Sun90, you are missing a big piece of information

Table Guide for Reference
----------------------------------
there is no need to know each number with each permission set.

Read = 4
Write = 2
execute = 1

if you want to only read, it is 4.
If you want to read and execute, 4+1 = 5
read+write=6
read+write+execute=7.
noting = 0

This comes from our old binary system
where
read =100
write= 010
exec= 001
You do a binary addition and convert that back to the decimal system. 111 in binary (for read,write,execute) = 7 in decimal.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Ah interesting.
I wondered how the values were determined.

I wanted to post something along those lines... how I remember them.

I find it easier to visualize so in my mind, I would just add the rows like so...



This way, I don't have to remember what's 755 because its... Adding the top row gives a 7 and the next 2 rows add up to 5.
There is only a single way to get a 5
Of course, there is only a single way to get any value from 1 to 7 so you can't go wrong.

So the very common 644 would be So if somebody says to apply something weird like chmod 653... you don't have to remember what it is... open up a root explorer and check off

Sun90, you are missing a big piece of information

Table Guide for Reference
----------------------------------
there is no need to know each number with each permission set.

Read = 4
Write = 2
execute = 1

if you want to only read, it is 4.
If you want to read and execute, 4+1 = 5
read+write=6
read+write+execute=7.
noting = 0

This comes from our old binary system
where
read =100
write= 010
exec= 001
You do a binary addition and convert that back to the decimal system. 111 in binary (for read,write,execute) = 7 in decimal.

HANDSY said:

Many thanks I too am totally lost by permission setting.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

thanks for ur first reply to my guide ma8, appreciated

apk_xiz said:

hi OP which app is this ? cuz i don't think its root explorer

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

It's Root Browser.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium