[CentOS] Default permissions for creating a new user

[Nico Kadel-Garcia]

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 7:45 PM, Todd Cary <todd at aristesoftware.com> wrote:
> I know this is a Linux 101 question, however I am unable to
> locate the answer in my O'Reilly Linux book: how to set the
> default for permissions when creating a new user.  The default
> for the GUI in my newly installed Centos 5.5 is 700.  I usually
> use 774.

It's a user shell default setting, overridable with the "umask" setting.

> And when root creates a new directory, is there a way to have a
> default there too?

Yes, reset the "umask" in root's /root/.profile for default login
behavior. Getting it into non-login behavior may take a bit more work,
and you may have to review and think about what your sudo settings do
if you use sudo.

> Lastly, if root or someone with root privileges creates a
> sub-directory, is there a setting so that the sub-directory will
> have the owner/group and permissions as the parent directory?

Please look into the "sgid" settings with the "chmod" command. And be
aware that, if a user can write a file, they can reset its permissions
unless you get *very* arcane with things like NFSv4 ACL's.