Web Servers on Unix and Linux - CGI programs and file permissions

Author

CGI programs and file permissions

Jim Hatfield

2005-02-11, 5:52 pm

I'm writing a little CGI in perl, running under Apache 1.3 on FreeBSD.

I want the script to be able to talk to a modem.
Permissions on the device file are rw-rw---- and it is owner
root and group dialer.

Apache runs as user www so I have added user www to the dialer group
in /etc/group and stopped and started the server. But it still cannot
access the device file.

Does apache join all the groups it's allowed into in /etc/group or
is only its primary group used? It would be a pain to have to change
the group on the device file and I'd rather not add access to other.

--
Jim Hatfield