Cannot change permission for /var/www/

Question

Possible Duplicate:
problems with sudo permissions - /var/lib/sudo owned by uid

I recently installed Ubuntu Server and put the GUI on so I can get the hang of Linux. However, I can't seem to gain access to the /var/www/ folder so I can put and edit my html files...

I tried what was on this post: Change folder permissions and ownership and I still can't move files. (Except if I use nautilus)

When I tried what Ikke suggessted, it appeared to have worked (as in no errors thrown in terminal) but when I still can't move files into the folder.

If I use nautilus and look at the permissions for /var/www it lists me as the owner (is just says my username), Create and Delete files for folder access. And --- for file access. If I change file access to Read and Write it just goes back to --- once I hit Apply Permissions to Enclosed Files.

What am I missing?

Solution 1

/var/www is owned by root. You will need to do the following:

sudo chown user:user /var/www

Solution 2

have you tried adding your user to the www-data group?

try this:

sudo usermod -G www-data -a 'your-username-here'

for a little more info you could look here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=919951

Comments

[Karthik T]

Did you do chmod or just chown?

[ecnepsnai]

I tried both commands.

[ecnepsnai]

I don't know what I'm looking for here. Basically I see: a listing for . a green square for .. and index.html

[Cipher Menial]

It might not actually be a symbolic link. I have changed the command above. See if it shows /var/www pointing to another directory.

[ecnepsnai]

This is all I see (for /var and /var/www) imgur - picture

[Cipher Menial]

/var/www is owned by root. You will need to do chown. I will edit my answer.

[ecnepsnai]

I changed the owner, but it did nothing. I still can't move my files into the folder.

[ecnepsnai]

I saw that post before I came here, and added myself to www-data, but it didn't do anything.

[ecnepsnai]

I don't know why, but when I booted the machine today I had access to the folder. The problem may have been one of those "did you try turning it on and off again" problems...