Re: Copying Files to the Web Directory

PHP runs as the webserver user which in most cases is user nobody. For PHP to write to a directory, it has to be writable to this directory. A possible solution would be to compile a PHP executable and run a script from cron to copy the files periodically. By using cron and a cgi-version of PHP you can run it as your desired user. Jason ----- Original Message ----- From: "Miles Thompson" <milesthompson@ns.sympatico.ca> To: <php-general@lists.php.net> Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 7:18 PM Subject: [PHP] Copying Files to the Web Directory > I have a customer who insists on using Front Page, but wants protection > against intruders on all his web pages. I envisioned a solution where he > works in Front Page, then all his files are ftp'd to a directory on the > server, opened and re-written as .php files with all links changed from > "something.htm" to "something.php" and then copied to a directory on the > same level called "test". So far so good, and this allows a php-one-liner > to provide the necessary security. > > Now I'm stuck, because I have to copy these files from test to the location > of the web page itself. And I've not been able to do it, and I can't do > it, as far as I can see without giving world-writeable permission to the > web directory. Here's the skeletal directory structure ... > > .../www.website.com > /admin > /upload > /test > > The script (php page) I'm using to do this is stored in /admin and I want > to copy everything in /test (and any subdir's it may have) to www.website.com. > > On the server, logged in as root, I can execute a shell script named > newpub-web, located in www.website.com, which consists of: > rm -f *.php > rm -f ./graphics/* > cp -fR ./admin/test/* . > > I've tried executing newpub-web from a php script, which changes to the the > working directory to www.website.com, as: > exec( "newpub-web"), or system( "newpub-web" ) or passthru( > "newpub-web"). None have worked. > > I've also tried executing the commands directly using system(), all without > effect, no errors, nothing. > > Do I have to change the group of www.website.com to nobody? That seems to > be an awful security hole. > > Stymied in Nova Scotia - Miles Thompson > > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, e-mail: php-general-unsubscribe@lists.php.net > For additional commands, e-mail: php-general-help@lists.php.net > To contact the list administrators, e-mail: php-list-admin@lists.php.net > >