Default permission of hosts file

Question

I changed the permissions of my host file /etc/hosts by doing a chmod og+w.

What's the default permission so that I can switch it back?

The reverse of that command is sudo chmod og-w /etc/hosts. Most files have permissions like 644 and directories 755. Exceptions exists, highly sensitive files like /etc/shadow have 640.
Thanks but I don't think the reverse applies for every command, may be just here but not in all situations and that's why I asked to be sure :)
The sudo chmod o-w whatever can almost always be executed without pain. Only shared directories like /tmp or /var/tmp have that permission bit set, having it in other directories might introduce a security hole.
Good point! I wasn't sure of the group part, may be it had the permission for the group and may be not.

Lekensteyn · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-27 20:57:34Z

up vote 5 down vote accepted

The default file permissions for /etc/hosts is 644. (readable and writable for the owner, root, and readable for others.)

edited Jun 27 '11 at 20:57

Lekensteyn
35.8k1081177

answered Jun 27 '11 at 20:47

htorque
24.4k1481155

Just curious, why it needs to be executable for the owner? – Ashfame Jun 27 '11 at 20:53

3

It's not. 4 (read) + 2 (write) = 6. Read more on file permissions. – htorque Jun 27 '11 at 20:54

oh sry, yes that makes sense. – Ashfame Jun 27 '11 at 20:55

1 Answer