For some reason I can't change the file permissions of my var/www folder or anything else inside it. I've tried using gksu-nautilus to change the permissions but it doesn't work. When I open the properties window, and select a different level of permission for myself, it instantly switches back to the previous setting.
Any idea of how to fix this?
Use commands, from terminal. Ctrl + Alt + T by default, but you can find it in GNOME menu.
So open that terminal, and type:
sudo chmod 775 FILE(S) - for folders, use recursive option: sudo chmod 775 DIR(S) -R
The numbers are from the permissions: 7 means rwx(read, write, execute), 5 r-x(read, execute), 6 rw- (read, write).
The tree number combination is: ogx (owner, group, everyone).
To change group an owner, use:
sudo chown OWNER:GROUP FILE/FORDER -R eg. owner: root, group:users; (R=recursive)
To change group only, use:
sudo chgrp GROUP FILE/FOLDER -R ... same thing...
Please read the manual pages of these programes: man chmod chown chgrp - for more details.
You said "the permissions switch instantly back". What about "the permissions did not get applied"?
If you've a separate /var/www partition formatted FAT or NTFS, you need to reformat your partition as those filesystems do not support Linux file permissions.
Backup your files and re-format the partition as ext4. Next, copy the files back and restore the permissions and ownerships:
sudo chown -R 0:0 /var/www
sudo find /var/www -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \; # files
sudo find /var/www -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \; # directories
The 640 and 750 in the last two commands can be changed of course.
Just change the owner of the folder by opening a terminal and:
sudo chown myUsername:myUsername -R /var/www
Where myUsername is your username
