For most modern Linux systems your apache user should not be run as root, and in order to change the ownership of a file or directory, you need to be root. To get around this problem you can use sudo, but be careful with what permissions you give. Here is an example which is working for me:
www-data ALL = NOPASSWD: /bin/chown 1[1-9][0-9][0-9]\:1[1-9][0-9][0-9] /home/www/[a-zA-Z0-9]*
This allows the apache server to change ownership of files in /home/www with name containing a-z, A-Z or numbers (note: no subdirectories). The only valid input of userid is a four digit numeric id, between 1100 and 1999.
Hope this helps.
chown
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
chown — Modifica o dono do arquivo
Descrição
Tenta modificar o dono do arquivo para o usuario . Somente o superusuário pode modificar o dono de um arquivo.
Parâmetros
- filename
-
Caminho para o arquivo.
- user
-
O nome do usuário ou número.
Valor Retornado
Retorna TRUE em caso de sucesso ou FALSE em falhas.
Notas
Nota: Esta função não trabalha com arquivos remotos, de forma que o arquivo a ser examinado precisa ser acessível pelo sistema de arquivos do servidor.
Nota: Quando o safe-mode está ativo, o PHP verifica se os arquivo(s) ou diretórios que estão usados na operação tem o mesmo UID (proprietário) do script que está sendo executado.
chown
rickard at 0x539 dot se
18-Jun-2009 07:04
18-Jun-2009 07:04
Mikevac at yahoo dot com
01-Feb-2008 05:42
01-Feb-2008 05:42
I've only tested this on Solaris 10 so your mileage may vary.
To allow the apache daemon to change file ownership without being root, add the following line to /etc/system:
set rstchown=0
Reboot the server.
There are security concerns doing this as this modification allows any user to change ownership of their files to anyone else.
Tayfun Bilsel
11-Jan-2006 02:13
11-Jan-2006 02:13
Simple usage of the chown:
<?php
$file_name= "test";
$path = "/var/www/html/test/" . $file_name ;
$user_name = "root";
chown($path, $user_name);
?>
Jens Vieler
23-May-2005 05:38
23-May-2005 05:38
for some reason i was searching for chown() with an "on this mashine"-unknown userid and found martijn's hint very interesting. the main problem is, that if the numerical uid is used within a variable, it is checked against the /etc/passwd and returns "unknown user". a little note:
use intval(), not inval()! so all in all it is:
chown($path_to_dir,intval($uidnumber));
greg _at_ rhythmicdesign d.o.t com
23-Feb-2004 10:00
23-Feb-2004 10:00
<?php
function recurse_chown_chgrp($mypath, $uid, $gid)
{
$d = opendir ($mypath) ;
while(($file = readdir($d)) !== false) {
if ($file != "." && $file != "..") {
$typepath = $mypath . "/" . $file ;
//print $typepath. " : " . filetype ($typepath). "<BR>" ;
if (filetype ($typepath) == 'dir') {
recurse_chown_chgrp ($typepath, $uid, $gid);
}
chown($typepath, $uid);
chgrp($typepath, $gid);
}
}
}
recurse_chown_chgrp ("uploads", "unsider", "unsider") ;
?>
for older versions.. unfortunately, it seems I do not have permission to perform these functions.
Richard Esplin
12-Oct-2003 01:49
12-Oct-2003 01:49
As far as I can tell, PHP's built in functions will not do a recursive chown or chgrp. But it wouldn't be hard to write a function for this. Here is some starter code based on an example written by John Coggeshall which I found at http://www.coggeshall.org :
<?php
function recurse_chown_chgrp($path2dir, $uid, $gid){
$dir = new dir($path2dir);
while(($file = $dir->read()) !== false) {
if(is_dir($dir->path.$file)) {
recurse_chown_chgrp($dir->path.$file, $uid, $gid);
} else {
chown($file, $uid);
chgrp($file, $gid);
}
}
$dir->close();
}
?>
I have not tested this code (but I think it will work) because for my current needs, a simple exec("chown -r $user.$group $path"); is sufficient. I would need this code if I were not in control of the contents of these variables because they can be dangerous on the command line.
Klaus Zierer
27-Jun-2003 01:37
27-Jun-2003 01:37
If you want to chown a symlink, PHP will follow the symlink and change the target file.
If you want to chown the symlink, you have to use shell_exec("/bin/chown user.group symlink");
martijn at sigterm dot nl
20-Jun-2003 12:28
20-Jun-2003 12:28
If chown is filled with a variable ( chown ("myfile", $uid) the uid will be looked up through pwget_uid.
So if you need to set a non existing uid use inval($uid).
njs+php at scifi dot squawk dot com
22-Sep-2000 04:28
22-Sep-2000 04:28
If you allow sudo execution for chmod by "nobody" (www, webdaemon, httpd, whatever user php is running under)in this manner, it had better be a system on which the owner is able to be root and no one else can run code, else your whole system is compromised. Someone could change the mode of /etc/passwd or the shadow password file.
Other system commands (sudo mount) and so forth are similar.
