What are the standard file permissions?

Question

I changed everything to 777 because it's easier to make changes but I forgot checking the previous settings. Were all files set to 775 or did they all have different values?

Answer 1

Your question doesn't make much sense :) If by "standard" you mean the way the Q2A files are distributed then there is no answer to that question because Q2A is distributed as a zip file and zip files don't save file permissons on them as tar files do.

Now, if you're talking about how things were before you change them, then it is impossible to know as it is just a matter of configuration which should reflect an intention which you haven't mentioned. EG: If you want to add files to a directory then you need to be able to write to it. Not to mention it also depends on what user you are and what groups are you part of in order to provide appropriate privileges.

Answering in general terms, and without taking any other consideration, 755 (or even 750) for directories and 644 (or even 640) for the rest of the files should be fine. I believe you can even get away with a 755 for directories in which you are storing uploaded files as the PHP process runs as the owner of the files.

Comments

Thank you for your answer. Before changing the settings, some of the changes I made in the admin panel caused permission errors. That doesn't happen when I change all file permissions to 777. My intention is to set the files to the most secure setting when I don't need to make changes.

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You mean that 644 and 755 result in permission errors? That is awkward because 6 means R/W and 4 means R. If you have an odd number it means it also has execute permission or the ability to list the directory contents (only for directories, of course). The three numbers stand for "user", "group" and "others". The last thing you want to do is to let "others" read, write and execute your files but if that is the way the hosting provider is expecting you to do things then you can't do much about it.