Share folder between users

Question

I have created a folder in / that I would like to share between users in a certain user group on my system. After changing ownership of the folder from root to myself and changing the group permissions to "Create and delete files", I logged in as another user in the group and tested the folder. I was able to access the folder and one of its sub-directories, but permission to view/edit a file was denied. I could have changed the permissions on the sub-directory, but based on past experience I would have to do this each time a new file was added so others could view it. Is there any easy way to automatically make any file placed in this folder available to the specified group?

Answer 1

Yes, you can make the directory "sticky" for this, so that when files are created in it, they inherit the directory's permissions:

chmod +t dirname

See the file permissions documentation for more details.

However, when a file is copied into the directory (rather than being created anew there), it will still typically have its original permissions, since copying files generally retains their permissions.