CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linux
Suthari Sandeep
Suthari Sandeep

Reputation: 31

Make all files under a directory read-only without changing permissions?

I'm a beginner in linux.I have a question on filesystem that is it possible to make all files under a directory read-only without changing permissions?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1748

Answers (2)

Eugene Naydenov
Eugene Naydenov

Reputation: 7295

No it is not possible. The write permission grants the ability to write a file. So that you need to change it anyway to make the file read-only for specific user or group of users.

You'd probably like to read this at spare time.

Upvotes: 2

Thomas Dickey
Thomas Dickey

Reputation: 54563

If you have suitable privileges, and if the filesystem is not critical to the machine (do not try this with "/", your root filesystem), you can remount the filesystem read-only. The details differ slightly from one system to another, but a useful discussion is found here:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/296331/how-to-mount-a-hard-disk-as-read-only-from-the-terminal

that applies to Linux and BSDs.

Because this does not actually modify the files, you can undo this by remounting the filesystem again, with read/write permissions, e.g., "rw" where the "ro" option was used. For specific information you should read the manpage(s) for mount and fstab for the system you are using.

Upvotes: 0

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