Set a umask (optional)

The web server group must have write permissions to certain directories in the file system; however, you might want tighter security, especially in production. We provide the flexibility for you to further restrict those permissions using a umask.

Our solution is to enable you to optionally create a file named magento_umask in your application root directory that restricts permissions for the web server group and everyone else.

NOTE

We recommend changing the umask on a one-user or shared hosting system only. If you have a private application server, the group must have write access to the file system; the umask removes write access from the group.

The default umask (with no magento_umask specified) is 002, which means:

  • 775 for directories, which means full control by the user, full control by the group, and enables everyone to traverse the directory. These permissions are typically required by shared hosting providers.

  • 664 for files, which means writable by the user, writable by the group, and read-only for everyone else

A common suggestion is to use a value of 022 in the magento_umask file, which means:

  • 755 for directories: full control for the user, and everyone else can traverse directories.
  • 644 for files: read-write permissions for the user, and read-only for everyone else.

To set magento_umask:

  1. In a command-line terminal, log in to your application server as a file system owner.

  2. Navigate to the application installation directory:

    cd <Application install directory>

  3. Use the following command to create a file named magento_umask and write the umask value to it.

    echo <desired umask number> > magento_umask

    You should now have a file named magento_umask in the <Magento install dir> with the only content being the umask number.

  4. Log out and log back in as the file system owner to apply the changes.

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