From owner-freebsd-questions  Wed Nov 10  8:49:48 1999
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From: Michael Kennett <mike@laurasia.com.au>
Message-Id: <199911101704.BAA05709@laurasia.com.au>
Subject: Testing file permissions
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 01:04:29 +0800 (WST)
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Hello All,

How do I test the permissions of a file in a script?

I'm making some changes to the daily admin scripts, and I'd like to test
the permissions and ownership of a couple of files and directories. The
only way I can do it is to use the `ls -l' command and to process the text
output.

e.g. To test that the /bin/ls command is world executable (trivial example):

  if [ -f /bin/ls ] && ( ls -l /bin/ls | cut -b 4 | grep x > /dev/null )
  then
    echo "World Executable"
  fi

This seems *rather* crude!

An alternative approach (just thought of it!) would be to use the 'find'
command:

  if find /bin -name ls -perm -400 | grep ls > /dev/null
  then
    echo "World Executable"
  fi

But this is equally crude -- indeed, I feel like I'm smashing the problem
with the biggest sledgehammer that I can find!

Is there another way of doing this test of file permissions?
Similarly, is there a quick test for checking the ownership of a file?

Regards,

Mike Kennett
(mike@laurasia.com.au)



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