Owners and Groups

NOTE: For the sake of clarity, the remainder of this tutorial discusses only files. For the most part, what applies to files applies to directories.

OK, you know what the permission settings are, but to whom are they assigned? Linux has three levels of permission:
  • Owner, a.k.a. user
    The owner of a file usually has the highest level of permissions, and usually created the file. The owner may also be called user.
  • Group
    The purpose of having a group permission is to allow multiple people to have access to a file without granting access to the whole world.
  • Other
    This level includes everybody who is not the owner or a member of the group associated with the file.