We found a system administration problem on a  server today that was being caused by incorrect directory permissions.  Any email that passes through the server-wide spam filter was not going through because of permissions on the /home/<domaindir-here>/etc directory.  That directory needs to be owned by mail.

Here is a quick way to update those directories:

 [root@host:home]# cd /home

The find command only lists directories (much, much faster if you know you only need a certain file type like ‘d’), up to 2 levels deep (.  = current directory = level 1), and matching the name etc…

 [root@host:home]# chgrp mail `find /home -maxdepth 2 -type d -name etc`

Now we pass find as a variable list to the ls command to see what we touched.  The ‘d’ on ls also restricts it to directory level output only, so we don’t descend into those directories and list the contents.

 [root@host:home]# ls -ld `find /home -maxdepth 2 -type d -name etc`

drwxr-x---  3 aaron    mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/aaron/etc

drwxr-x---  2 abundatr mail 4096 Oct 20  2009 /home/abundatr/etc

drwxr-x---  3 alutask  mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/alutask/etc

drwxr-x---  3 banks    mail 4096 Feb 21  2008 /home/banks/etc

drwxr-x---  4 chasvol  mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/chasvol/etc

drwxr-xr-x  3 cyberspr mail 4096 May  7 11:24 /home/cyberspr/etc

drwxr-x---  2 daedalus mail 4096 Mar 27  2008 /home/daedalus/etc

drwxr-x---  7 dolphin  mail 4096 Jul 30  2008 /home/dolphin/etc

drwxr-x---  3 dutchbul mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/dutchbul/etc

drwxr-xr-x  2 eatchas  mail 4096 May 10 21:59 /home/eatchas/etc

drwxr-xr-x  2 fireant  mail 4096 May 25 21:16 /home/fireant/etc

drwxr-xr-x  4 jrsint   mail 4096 Jan 11  2008 /home/jrsint/etc

drwxr-x---  3 lance    mail 4096 Jul  9  2007 /home/lance/etc

drwxr-xr-x  2 memoryve mail 4096 Feb 16 10:29 /home/memoryve/etc

drwxr-x---  2 michaelc mail 4096 May 13  2008 /home/michaelc/etc

drwxr-x---  3 modelloc mail 4096 Dec 18 19:22 /home/modelloc/etc

drwxr-x---  3 monstrss mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/monstrss/etc

drwxr-x---  3 nicolas  mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/nicolas/etc

drwxr-x---  3 outdoor  mail 4096 Aug 26  2008 /home/outdoor/etc

drwxr-xr-x  2 perks    mail 4096 Jun  6 15:17 /home/perks/etc

drwxr-x---  2 pout     mail 4096 Jun 15 12:08 /home/pout/etc

drwxr-x---  3 ravenel  mail 4096 Aug 12  2007 /home/ravenel/etc

drwxr-x---  4 remodel  mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/remodel/etc

drwxr-x---  2 saveag   mail 4096 Oct  9  2008 /home/saveag/etc

drwxr-xr-x  2 shoppout mail 4096 Jun 15 16:46 /home/shoppout/etc

drwxr-x---  3 southern mail 4096 Feb 10  2008 /home/southern/etc

drwxr-x---  2 tbcustom mail 4096 Jun 20  2008 /home/tbcustom/etc

drwxr-x---  3 thebicyc mail 4096 Jun 16  2008 /home/thebicyc/etc

drwxr-xr-x  3 theenerg mail 4096 Feb  9  2008 /home/theenerg/etc

drwxr-x---  2 unclelue mail 4096 Dec 14  2009 /home/unclelue/etc

drwxr-x---  2 vanjean  mail 4096 Feb 16  2009 /home/vanjean/etc

drwxr-x---  3 wwwbrea  mail 4096 Dec 18 01:22 /home/wwwbrea/etc

This same technique can be used for any number of commands when you need to work on directories.   Just be careful with it, this can wreak as much havoc as it can repair damage done by other command line tools that have been wielded without care.

This Red Rider BB Gun is loaded.  Be careful out there!  “You’ll shoot your eye out kid”…

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Related posts:

1. Linux File Management
2. Finding Which Linux Packages Provide Which Files
3. Linux User Management
4. Changing Directories More Easily
5. Linux mdadm tips & tricks

0 Comment   |   Posted in System Administration,blog,files by lcleveland on June 18, 2010