Today, I learned a more efficient way to apply Linux permissions to large projects by leveraging the power of xargs and find. This method is particularly useful when dealing with Laravel projects that have many files and directories, as it allows for parallel processing and excludes specific folders (like a storage directory) from the permission changes.
Here’s the step-by-step process I followed:
1. Set Ownership of the Entire Project Folder
To ensure the correct ownership for the entire project, I used the chown command recursively:
sudo chown -R [username]:[groupname] [foldername]
This command sets the owner and group for all files and directories within the specified folder.
2. Set Permissions for the Project Folder and Its Top-Level Directories
Next, I applied the desired permissions to the project folder and its top-level directories using chmod:
sudo chmod 2775 [foldername]
The 2775 permission sets the folder to allow read, write, and execute for the owner and group, and read and execute for others. The 2 enables the setgid bit, which ensures that new files and directories inherit the group of the parent folder.
3. Find and Change Permissions for All Directories (Except the Storage Folder) in Parallel
To apply permissions to all directories while excluding the storage folder, I combined find, xargs, and chmod:
find [foldername] -path [foldername]/storage -prune -o -type d -print0 | sudo xargs -0 -P 2 chmod 2775
find [foldername] -path [foldername]/storage -prune -o -type d: Finds all directories except thestoragefolder.-print0: Outputs the results in a null-terminated format to handle spaces in filenames.xargs -0 -P 2: Processes the results in parallel (2 processes at a time) for faster execution.chmod 2775: Applies the desired permissions to the directories.
4. Find and Change Permissions for All Files (Except the Storage Folder) in Parallel
Similarly, I applied permissions to all files while excluding the storage folder:
find [foldername] -path [foldername]/storage -prune -o -type f -print0 | sudo xargs -0 -P 2 chmod 0664
-type f: Finds all files.chmod 0664: Sets read and write permissions for the owner and group, and read-only for others.
5. Handle the Storage Folder Separately (If It’s Too Large)
For the storage folder, I applied permissions separately to avoid overloading the system:
find [foldername]/storage -type d -print0 | sudo xargs -0 -P 2 chmod 2775
find [foldername]/storage -type f -print0 | sudo xargs -0 -P 2 chmod 0664
This ensures that the storage folder and its contents have the correct permissions without affecting the rest of the project.
Why This Approach?
Using xargs with -P allows for parallel processing, which speeds up permission changes significantly for large projects. Additionally, excluding specific folders (like storage) ensures that sensitive or frequently accessed directories are handled separately.
This method has saved me a lot of time and effort when managing permissions for large projects.
Hope you found this article useful!