SAFE MODE,fopen, and chmod

[Joseph S.]

Hi all,
Consider this case:
I have a free php hosting account (a LAMP host) with an account name
(also the name of my directory) 'sample'.
Under 'sample', I have php scripts which can create files and folders
programmaticall y. I have manually created a directory called 'users'
under 'sample' and have given it a chmod 777 successfully.[color=blue]
>From my script in 'sample', say myscript.php, I can successfully create[/color]
any number of files inside sample/users/, say, sample/users/aaaaa.txt,
sample/users/bbbbb.css, etc. I can also create directories at runtime,
say, sample/users/mydir1, sample/users/mydir2 etc. and can also
successfully chmod each to 777 (all this from myscript.php).
The host is "running in SAFE MODE", where, it seems that for fopen,
mkdir and many other functions, a check is done for the UID of the
script-running process to be the same as the UID of each resource
concerned(mydir 1, mydir2, aaaaa.txt etc) and only if the UIDs match, is
the function allowed to work successfully.

The problem is that while I can make all these directories(myd ir1,
mydir2, etc) under sample/users and files aaaaa.txt and bbbbb.css under
sample/users, I cannot make files inside mydir1, mydir2 etc. _inspite_
of the fact that I can _successfully_( confirmed from independent
filemanager utility) chmod all these created directories to 777.

The message I get is something like: Warning fopen(): SAFE MODE
restriction, the script whose UID is 12878 is not allowed to access
sample/users/mydir3 owned by UID 99 in /path/to/script/myscript.php on
line 484.

This inspite of the fact that the newly created sample/users/mydir3 has
been successfully chmodded to 777 as is visible from the host's
filemanager utility!

The same script has in the prior lines created the directory
sample/users/mydir3 and many files like sample/users/ccccc.css,
sample/users/dddddd.css and so on, without a problem. Plus, not having
permissions on mydir3 is ruled out because the script just made it
itself and chmodded it to 777.

Any clues?

Thanks in advance,
Joseph S.

[Colin McKinnon]

Re: SAFE MODE,fopen, and chmod

Joseph S. wrote:
[color=blue]
> I have a free php hosting account[/color]

hmmmm.
[color=blue]
>
> The message I get is something like: Warning fopen(): SAFE MODE
> restriction, the script whose UID is 12878 is not allowed to access
> sample/users/mydir3 owned by UID 99 in /path/to/script/myscript.php on
> line 484.
>
> This inspite of the fact that the newly created sample/users/mydir3 has
> been successfully chmodded to 777 as is visible from the host's
> filemanager utility!
>[/color]

what are the permissions now, and what uid/gid owns the file when viewed
from outside PHP?

C.

[Chris]

Re: SAFE MODE,fopen, and chmod

That's the way safe-mode works.

The files going into the users/ folder are created by the "apache"
(webserver) user.

The script running is owned by your account (eg "sample").

Since the UID's aren't the same you can't do anything.

See http://www.php.net/features.safe-mode

You could ask the host if they can enable safe_mode_gid and make sure
that your user and the apache user are in the same group but that's
about all you can do apart from disabling safe-mode.

(there are no workarounds, that's just the way it works).

Joseph S. wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi all,
> Consider this case:
> I have a free php hosting account (a LAMP host) with an account name
> (also the name of my directory) 'sample'.
> Under 'sample', I have php scripts which can create files and folders
> programmaticall y. I have manually created a directory called 'users'
> under 'sample' and have given it a chmod 777 successfully.[color=green]
>>From my script in 'sample', say myscript.php, I can successfully create[/color]
> any number of files inside sample/users/, say, sample/users/aaaaa.txt,
> sample/users/bbbbb.css, etc. I can also create directories at runtime,
> say, sample/users/mydir1, sample/users/mydir2 etc. and can also
> successfully chmod each to 777 (all this from myscript.php).
> The host is "running in SAFE MODE", where, it seems that for fopen,
> mkdir and many other functions, a check is done for the UID of the
> script-running process to be the same as the UID of each resource
> concerned(mydir 1, mydir2, aaaaa.txt etc) and only if the UIDs match, is
> the function allowed to work successfully.
>
> The problem is that while I can make all these directories(myd ir1,
> mydir2, etc) under sample/users and files aaaaa.txt and bbbbb.css under
> sample/users, I cannot make files inside mydir1, mydir2 etc. _inspite_
> of the fact that I can _successfully_( confirmed from independent
> filemanager utility) chmod all these created directories to 777.
>
> The message I get is something like: Warning fopen(): SAFE MODE
> restriction, the script whose UID is 12878 is not allowed to access
> sample/users/mydir3 owned by UID 99 in /path/to/script/myscript.php on
> line 484.
>
> This inspite of the fact that the newly created sample/users/mydir3 has
> been successfully chmodded to 777 as is visible from the host's
> filemanager utility!
>
> The same script has in the prior lines created the directory
> sample/users/mydir3 and many files like sample/users/ccccc.css,
> sample/users/dddddd.css and so on, without a problem. Plus, not having
> permissions on mydir3 is ruled out because the script just made it
> itself and chmodded it to 777.
>
> Any clues?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Joseph S.
>[/color]