cp: cannot create regular file: Permission denied

Question

I am running a PHP script on my Apache server and from the script I need to copy some files (to run a Bash script that copies files). I can copy to a directory /tmp with no problems, but when I want to copy to /tmp/foo then I get this error:

cp: cannot create regular file '/tmp/foo/file.txt': Permission denied

even though the permissions for the directory /tmp and /tmp/foo are set to the same value.

Do you know what is the problem?

Solution

/tmp Directory has all the permissions (read/write) for all users. but if you made /tmp/foo by your own account, it has its permissions just for you! if you want to make it writable for other users (or programs) change its permission with this command:

chmod 777 /tmp/foo

If you have any other files inside this directory from before, add -R flag to above command.

Update: Use this command to change /tmp/foo owner from your own to apache default user:

sudo chown www-data:www-data /tmp/foo -R

also please check your apache2 configuration to see which user it has for running the php scripts.

Comments

[Siva]

can you share the result of whoami and ll /tmp

[Hamid Yousefi]

@SivaPrasath /tmp is always for root by default! the two commands results is not related in this case, becase /tmp has all the permissions for all users

[Siva]

@HamidYousefi yes, tmp is for root, but not for /tmp/foo OP might be running the script as a different user with /tmp/foo belongs to.

[GorTeX]

@SivaPrasath whoami is apache and ll /tmp returns drwxrwxrwx for /tmp/foo

[GorTeX]

@SivaPrasath Enforcing -what does it mean? ...but my problem has been solved by Hamid

[Siva]

@GorTeX check stackoverflow.com/a/16446586/9702260

[ctrl-alt-delor]

Hello welcome. To make things easier in the future, when asked for clarification, please clarify by amending the question (not by adding a comment), show commands, and output in full. This will help us with answering you question more quickly. Thanks, and happy questioning.

[GorTeX]

Thanks for the answer, but it doesnt work. I have set the permissions for /tmp/foo to 777 and still I get the same error. When I run the script as a normal user then it is okay. But problem is when I run it from a php script

[Hamid Yousefi]

Can I see your scripts please!? and are you using php or php-fpm? your problem is, by default php using apache configured user for running scripts, while you made /tmp/foo by your own account! I will update my answer, check it again please.

[GorTeX]

php script: <?php shell_exec(" bash /path/to/script.sh ) ?> and script.sh is #!/bin/bash cp /my/folder/file.txt /tmp/foo

[GorTeX]

How can I find which user apache uses for running php scripts? When I put to my php script bash command whoami then I get "apache"

[Hamid Yousefi]

can you give me the output of this command: ls -alh /tmp | grep foo if the directory has foo name.

[GorTeX]

drwxrwxrwx 4 apache apache foo

[Hamid Yousefi]

just rm -rf /tmp/foo and then add this line before your shell_exec(" bash /path/to/script.sh ) This one: if (!file_exists('/tmp/foo')) mkdir('/tmp/foo', 744); test it please.

[GorTeX]

Now it is working! Thank you very very much. Still dont understand why it didnt work before but I am glad it does now :)

[Hamid Yousefi]

I really became happy :) you had permission issue that I can't tell you exactly where it made problem. but now your problem solved ;)

[GorTeX]

permissions for the /tmp/foo now is d-wxr-x--T..havent seen that before

[Hamid Yousefi]

check this answer: askubuntu.com/questions/432699/…