find files with -perm and change perms

Question

I need to find all files in a directory where “other” have permissions to read, write, or execute, and I need to apply those permission to “group”.

Example: if file1 has rwxr--rw-, this would change it to rwxrw-rw-.

But in the case that “group” has permissions but “other” doesn’t, I need to leave it as is.

I need to use one command for this with no pipes.

Any tips you can help me with?

"One command with no pipes" sounds like a homework assignment requirement. Is that it, or is this a real-life problem you're trying to solve? — l0b0
– l0b0, Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 2:01
It sounds like you're looking for the -perm /mode form of the command ("Any of the permission bits mode are set for the file") rather than the -perm -mode form ("All of the permission bits mode are set for the file") — steeldriver
– steeldriver, Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 2:09
it is indeed an asignment @l0b0, as i stated, ido not want the answer, i only want tips that might point me in the right direction. — julie
– julie, Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 2:13
@julie Hint: chmod with "symbolic" modes (see the man page) will allow you to surgically set individual bits in a file's mode, without affecting other bits. — Gordon Davisson
– Gordon Davisson, Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 2:29

l0b0 · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-04 02:30:04Z

0

In hint form, since this is an assignment:

We can check whether a specific group and other permission is different with the following find syntax:

\( -perm -o=PERMISSION -not -perm -g=PERMISSION \)

Since there are eight different possibilities you'll need eight of these to match all differences.

Once you have these files you can use -exec COMMAND {} \; to run COMMAND for each file.

chmod is the command to change the permissions.

Now, how you'd actually copy the permissions from other to group without running another command is a bit of a conondrum.

answered Mar 4, 2021 at 2:14

l0b0

53.6k48 gold badges225 silver badges398 bronze badges

AdminBee · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-10 08:42:06Z

0

The command I used to solve my problem was :

find ./directory/ -perm /o=rwx -execdir chmod g+o {} +

Thanks again for the help, @l0b0 and @steeldriver!

AdminBee

23.6k25 gold badges55 silver badges77 bronze badges

answered Mar 9, 2021 at 20:54

julie

1

2 Answers 2