Required Directories

[Chuck Swiger]

On May 26, 2008, at 7:30 AM, Grant Peel wrote:
> I have several servers that the users home directories contain  
> directories that must exists in order for apache and mail to work  
> correctly.
> [ ... ]
> Is there a way (by using either proftpd, or setting sticky bit, or  
> setting the uimmutable flag), that I can prevent the users from  
> deleting these directories, and still retain the ability for my  
> (root run) scripts to have the ability to delete them?

I think that if you make the directories immutable, the users won't be  
able to create new files under them.  Using root-owned directories  
which have 1777 permissions would be workable, except that other users  
could create files under someone else's homedir, also.

It's generally not expected that users would not own the stuff under  
their homedir, or would not be able to delete their files if they want  
to, even if doing so would break something.  Normally, sysadmins code  
their scripts to re-create any missing directory hierarchy if needed,  
so that if a user manages to shoot themselves in the foot, the cron  
jobs will be able to provide first aid.

Regards,
-- 
-Chuck