Introduction

We are always messing with file permissions! If something does not work, it is simply a matter of time before we start to believe that messing with the file permissions will solve all our problems. But, before you set your entire website to owner: wwwdata group:wwwdata and permissions 777, you had better make sure your take a backup of the permissions.

Backup File Permissions

To backup the permissions, use the getfacl tool. So for example, if your Concrete5 installation is in a folder called Concrete5, simply enter this command:

getfacl -R Concrete5 > permissions.acl

This will recursively (that's what the -R does) back up all of the files in the Concrete5 folder and store them in a file called permissions.acl.

Now you can mess with the permissions all you want and not be concerned about not getting them back to the proper form.

Restore File Permissions

To restore your permissions, use this command:

setfacl --restore=permissions.acl

This will reset all of the permissions back to where they were when you backed them up.