How to give apache2 permission to write and read files?

Question

When I installed Wordpress in my Ubuntu 12.04 I found that Wordpress itself not write wp.config file.

He tell me to copy this into wp.config file. Look Like wordpress not able to write the files.

Now when I tried to install the plugin then it's not able to write the plugin so it's tell me to FTP detail.

this is my computer not server so I want to gave apache2 full permission to do any kind of operation.

Now somebody please help me on how I can set permission for apache. I have check but their is no group in my 12.04 installation that's called "apache".

Help

Solution 1

Use following command:

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www

This will make all your htdocs writable by Apache2.

Solution 2

The accepted answer will only apply it to the current files. However, I wanted my PHP scripts to be able to write-edit files at /var/www/html

To make it, Every new file should be given www-data group by default. (even the files made by root, cron or a sudo user) And we need group write on all files in /var/www/html

Also, I wanted /var/www to be writable by PHP but not visible to others. (to keep error_logs, etc)

Some people may argue this may not be secure but all PHP files are my scripts. And I want them to be able to make new files, add data inside existing files and even delete them. So I needed this setup.

Here is how it is done:

# Assign Recursive WWW User & Group: (logs + html)
    sudo chgrp www-data /var/www
    sudo chmod 770 /var/www
    sudo chmod 775 /var/www/html
    sudo chmod g+s /var/www
    sudo chmod g+s /var/www/html
    sudo chown -R <a_sudo_user>:www-data /var/www

# Apply File And Folder Defaults:
See more: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1314/how-to-set-default-file-permissions-for-all-folders-files-in-a-directory
    # -d: default, -m: modify, g:: apply to group permissions, o:: other permissions, -R: apply recursively
    # set group to rwx default:
        setfacl -d -m g::rwx /var/www
        setfacl -d -m g::rwx /var/www/html

# Reboot Server Anyway:
    sudo reboot

# Check Permissions
    getfacl /var/www
    getfacl /var/www/html
    getfacl /var/www/test.txt
    getfacl /var/www/html/test.txt

    OR USE: FTP FileZilla GUI

Comments

[Anirudha Gupta]

By mistake I tried something and now it's only owned by www-data. please help me on give current user access to those file.

[Robin]

See what ever you do, content is always owned by a single user. If you want to give someone a write privilege to htdocs then its better to give a group write permission and add current user to www-data group.

[Anirudha Gupta]

I restart apache and now it's work fine. thanks

[dzgeek]

you saved my day @Robin , can we have more details on this command line ? i didnt have a group or user named www-data...