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From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: alt.sources
Subject: Re: chmod args (was Re: Need a "watching" program)
Keywords: chmod
Message-ID: <1738@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 3 Jun 89 00:22:33 GMT
References: <8923@csli.Stanford.EDU> <11680@s.ms.uky.edu> <8928@csli.Stanford.EDU> <12743@ihlpy.ATT.COM> <1953@ur-cc.UUCP> <2126@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> <8605@chinet.chi.il.us>
Reply-To: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 12

>On the other hand, if I'm installing a program and have definite ideas
>about the permissions I want to set, then the octal form is cleaner:
>
>Desired Permission	Octal arg.	Mnemonic arg.
>2710			2710		u+rwx,g+xs,g-rw,o-rwx

Oh, good grief.  Try "u=rwx,g=xs,o=" instead.  Yes, Virginia, there
really *is* an "=" operator in the syntax for the mode argument to
"chmod" - and yes, on those *very* rare occasions when I do a "chmod" to
set the modes to some particular value rather than changing the modes, I
use it.  You see, I think of the desired permission as "rwx--s---", not
2710....