Understanding Linux File Permissions

If you are a Linux user, you probably already know about the different Linux file permissions. This is not going to be a comprehensive blog post, but it should still help you understand Linux file permissions if you do not already understand them.

There are three different main groups for Linux permissions (user, group, and world).

——————-

User:  This stands for the user account that owns the file / folder that it is assigned to.

Group:  This stands for the group(s) that are assigned to the file / folder. Groups can be your own private group that you get when your Linux user account is created, and / or can be other people’s and services’ groups as well. Any permissions set here affect **all** groups that are assigned to the file / folder.

World (all users):  This stands for the permissions that *everyone* that has access to the server and *all* services on your server have. Be very careful with this permissions “group”. Setting the “world” permissions to allow writing would mean that *anyone* or *anything* that has access to your server (hacker or no hacker) can now potentially write to your file / folder! Not good!

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When using a terminal (usually via SSH) in Linux, you would have seen file / folder permissions that look something like this:  myfile.txt  rw-rw—  John [owner]   John [group]

rwx——

The “r” above, in the first three letters, tells you that owner of the file / folder has “read” permissions.

The “w” above, in the first three letters, tells you that owner of the file / folder has “write” permissions to the file / folder.

The “x” above, in the first three letters, tell you that that owner of the file / folder has “execute” permissions.

—rwx—

The “r” above, in the middle three letters, tells you that all of the groups assigned to the file / folder has “read” permissions.

The “w” above, in the middle three letters, tells you that all of the groups assigned to the file / folder has “write” permissions to the file.

The “x” above, in the middle three letters, tell you that that all of the groups assigned to the file / folder has “execute” permissions.

——rwx

The “r” above, in the last three letters, tell you that that *everyone* that has access to the computer, and *all* services on the computer, now have “read” permissions to the file / folder.

The “w” above, in the last three letters, tell you that that *everyone* that has access to the computer, and *all* services on the computer, now have “write” permissions to the file / folder.

The “x” above, in the last three letters, tell you that that *everyone* that has access to the computer, and *all* services on the computer, now have “execute” permissions to the file / folder.

——————-

You now should have a basic understanding of the different basic Linux permissions!


Posted in Operating Systems

Five Myths About Christianity

Myth #1:  Everyone who calls himself / herself a Christian, wears a cross necklace, prays “religiously”, and does good works is a true born-again Christian.

This is not true. Many people who call themselves “Christians” are actually not Christians. Instead they are following a satanic counterfeit (false gospel) and are following “another Jesus” (not the Jesus that the Holy Bible talks about).

Any person that claims that you have to do something else such as being baptized or doing sacraments in addition to being saved, is a false teacher (2 Peter 2:1-3).

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ — Matthew 7:21-23 (NASB)

Myth #2:  Christianity is about trying to be perfect.

Actually Christianity is about doing our best to be like Jesus Christ (1 John 2:6), realizing that we will never be perfect until we are in Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1-6).

Myth #3:  Someone can lose their salvation in Christ Jesus.

The Bible is clear. You cannot lose your salvation.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” — John 10:27-28 (NASB)

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 8:38-39 (NASB)

Myth #4:  Christians cannot trust the Bible’s account of creation, because today’s authoritative scientists says that the earth and universe is billions of years old.

There is no evidence for evolution (evolutionary molecules-to-man,  evolutionary natural selection, etc.).

People have heard of the evolutionary concept of natural selection. Creationists, for the most part, agree with this concept in the sense that animals can be killed off. Here is an example: Two moths are in a forest. One moth is white the other is black. If the birds in the area can see the white moth more easily, then the white moth will most likely not survive, hence killing off the white moth in the forest. However, the evolutionists will take this a step further and say that animals evolve into other types of animals. This is not true.

There is no supporting evidence of any evolutionary natural selection that has occurred, is occurring, or will occur. Nothing has been observed to show that, for example, a cat can eventually evolve into a cat-bird with wings. Dogs give birth to dogs. Cats give birth to cats. Cats do not come from dogs, and dogs do not come from cats. Each animal has a variety in the gene pool for that particular animal, but nothing new is added to the gene pool.

Remember what the Bible says about people who contradict God’s Word:

“Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him,

“You will be proved right in what you say,
and you will win your case in court.” – Romans 3:4 NLT

Myth #5:  “Turning from your sins” is apart of obtaining salvation.

The Bible never mentions about “turning from your sins” – trying to stop sinning – as a part of being saved. The Bible says:

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9 NLT

Nowhere in that verse says or implies “turning from your sins to be saved”. In other words, you do not have to try to forsake your sins as a part of being saved. That is not Biblical. Unfortunately people who believe this way are not true born-again believers and are bound for Hell.

However if by “turning from your sins” you mean repentance (a change of mind), then that is correct.

Please take note, I am not saying that once you become a true born-again believer, you can just keep on sinning and say to yourself “I can now do anything I want, since I will go to Heaven anyway!”. That is not what I mean. I just want to be clear.


Posted in Christian

Do You Really Need to Use Antivirus Software?

Pretty much everyone who has used a computer knows what anti-virus software is and what is does. In case you don’t know, anti-virus software basically gives you the potential to know if malware is trying, has tried, or maybe even has successfully infiltrated your computer system.

More and more people are starting to do away with anti-virus software because “they don’t need it”. Well I personally see anti-virus software as a tool…a tool that helps secure a computer system. When someone says that they “don’t need anti-virus software”, I think of the example that I gave to someone a while back on the Internet :

Let’s say you go around telling people that you don’t need to see a doctor to test for cancer, because you do not have cancer, nor will you ever get any. How do you have the potential to know that you do not have cancer, *if* you are not checked by a doctor? How do you know that you will *never* get *any* cancer at all? You don’t!

Your logic would not make sense in that situation because you are assuming something as fact, when *in fact* you are just guessing! The same applies to someone who says that they “don’t need anti-virus software” because they “know that they won’t get any malware” on their computer system or “I know that I am careful, hence I don’t need anti-virus software”. Sorry people but that logic just doesn’t add up!

Also it seems in my experience that many Linux users believe the idea that they won’t get any malware on their Linux systems, or at the very least they “don’t need an anti-virus” program running on their Linux system.

Like I have asked several times before, how can you have the potential to know if you have malware on your Linux system, if you do not run anti-virus software on your Linux desktop / server?

You are just guessing that you will not get any malware. You are even guessing when you say that you do not have malware currently on your Linux system!

Sure Linux has a lot less malware than Windows, but that is no excuse for ignoring security! 🙂

Also, I know that anti-virus software can have (and does have) security problems in of itself. However keep in mind that the companies that write the anti-virus software do update their software to fix security problems, so this is not necessarily a big deal (depends upon your situation).


Posted in Computers, Internet and Servers, Operating Systems, Software

Difference between Historical and Observational Science

Historical Science:  Non-repeatable, non-observational, non-testable   (e.g., the origin of the universe — Yes, the origin of the universe is historical science because no human was alive to observe it happening, nor could anyone repeat what happened even *if* they did observe it!)

Observational Science:  Is repeatable, is observable, is testable   (e.g., the study of medicine or the study of mechanics — You can actually observe things happening (e.g. mechanics), test and verify your findings.)

Read more about historical and observational science here:  https://answersingenesis.org/what-is-science/deceitful-terms-historical-and-observational-science/


Posted in Christian

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