How to give a normal user access only to the /var/log directory?

Question

I have a non-admin user in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS desktop 32-bit OS to whom I need to give permissions only to access /var/log as he needs to monitor logs and create reports related to it.

I do not want to give him admin access at any cost.

How can I achieve this?

Solution

Permission to view log files is granted to users being in the group adm.

• Ubuntu: Privileges

To add a user to this group on the command line issue:

sudo usermod -aG adm <USER>

Comments

[tombert]

Really depends on the way you want to go. You could give read permissions to world: "chmod a+r" or you could enable acl (Access Control List) on your hard-drive (its a mount option) which gives you lower granularity in setting read+write permissions.

[Program man]

@tombert Agreed, but I was worried to do that, as to it can also affect the systems booting process, if set incorrectly. and I am not that used to with ACL. :P

[Program man]

Thanks man it worked like a charm. But do you know where I can check the list of default permissions, of such system generated groups? I know that my English is not that great, hence let me know if you do not understand my question... it's perfectly fine with me! .... :P

[Takkat]

You may want to look that up with gnome-system-tools from the GUI: askubuntu.com/questions/66718/how-to-manage-users-and-groups‌​. The link I gave you in my answer also has a list of defaults - scroll up the page.

[tombert]

Be aware that being in the adm group you can also sudo.

[Takkat]

@tombert nope - adm != admin it is in no way related to sudoers.

[tombert]

@Takkat: thx, I mixed it up.

[Program man]

@Takkat Appreciate your awesome answer pal... This is the Best possible and recommended solution for all Linux users .... workes like a wonder & does not give access to anything else apart tan logs... Great solution... Thanks again Takkat