Re: .my.cnf, security, and permissions

[Sasha Pachev]

"Peter F. Brown" wrote:
> 
> Hi Folks,
> 
>    Besides changing Apache to run as a user (thanks Benjamin), does
> anyone have any thoughts about getting web Perl script to read
> .my.cnf when .my.cnf is set to 600? (The Perl script runs as nobody,
> so it can't read it unless .my.cnf is set to 644.)
> 
>    Is this a limitation of Unix that we can't avoid, or is there
> some brilliant work around?
> 
> Yours,
> 
> Peter
> 

Why would Apache ever need to read .my.cnf ?

Yes, Unix has its limitations :-) If you chmod your file to 000 you will
not be able to read it as a regular user, just like it says in the
Bible: 

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is
sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read
this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: (Isaiah
29:11) 

If you need several users to be able to read a file, you can create a
special group for that, add all the users you need to it, and then chgrp
your file to that group and chmod g+r your file.

-- 
Sasha Pachev
http://www.sashanet.com/ (home)
http://www.direct1.com/ (work)