[X-Unix] Beginner Questions: Setting up access to localhost for testing only.

[Jon Allen Boone]

On May 12, 2005, at 18:38, dm87 at proparallax.com wrote:

> Thanks Jon and Jakob!  I have it setup now and running.  I have run  
> it in WebServer and thought I'd give it a go in Sites to see how  
> that works.
>
> I have been looking at file permissions.  Obviously I do not want  
> the world to be able to read my phpMyAdmin config file, it has  
> passwords in it.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1)  I have used octet numbers for permissions before, and am having  
> a little trouble getting used to the way Panther "Get Info" handles  
> permissions.  I am still painfully slow on the command line, so I  
> tend to use the GUI when possible.  I want to set the files to 644,  
> and I think the following reflects 644:
> owner: read/write
> group: read only
> other: read only
> Is this correct?  And are these the appropriate permissions to use  
> for developing a php site on Panther?

You've interpreted the permissions correctly.  It's an additive  
property, displayed in octal (base8, ranging from 0-7).  Read = 4,  
Write = 2, Execute = 1.

Files are often 644 (Read+Write, Read,Read) and directories are  
typically 755 (Read+Write+Execute/Read+Execute/Read+Execute).

Now, I don't do php, so I can't help you there.


> 2)  When I look at the permissions for the config.php file I find  
> that they are greyed out and I may not change them.  So, that means  
> they are left at 644.  That makes the config.php file readable to  
> the world, in theory.  However, when I try to bring up the config  
> file with the browser, I get a blank page.  This is good, I think.   
> But what is going on?  Is the config.php file secure from viewing  
> by the world?  Are my passwords secure?

I'm not a php'er, so I'll leave it to someone else to help.  But I  
would expect you to get a Permission Error (403) or perhaps an  
Unauthorized (401) error.  Safari doesn't seem to display these,  
however...

--jon