Alright! Figured this out. I am running Joomla on the localhost, so all I had to do was disable Joomla FTP. It does mention that in the install guide, but I guess most people install on a remote host, so it isn't emphasized at all. I have been able to install three components now without a hitch. Thank you to everyone who helped. It was an excellent Ubuntu security primer for me. Dave E <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 3:10 PM, Kurt von Finck <<a href="mailto:mneptok@mneptok.com">mneptok@mneptok.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="h5">On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:43:37 -0600 David Einerson <<a href="mailto:deinerson1@gmail.com">deinerson1@gmail.com</a>> wrote: > Hello all, > > I have Joomla 1.5.14 installed and running nicely on an Ubuntu 9.04 > server. The server is fully patched and up-to-date. > The trouble I am having is that when I go to install a Joomla > Extension/Module/Plugin, etc the "inherited" file and directory > permissions only allow the user to read and write, which causes the > install to either fail or then require manual intervention to correct > the failed install. > > How do I get the file and directory permissions to be rw-rw-rw for > user, group, and other during installation. For example: I install > CiviCRM, which creates a few directories and lots of files in the > Joomla subdirectories. But because the inherited file and dir > permissions are user rw only, the install doesn't complete - CiviCRM > can't run the SQL script to create data tables because it doesn't > have access to the newly created files and directories. > > I have tried numerous "fixes" including: > > - sudo chmod -R g+s /var/www/joomla15 > - sudo chmod -R o+s /var/www/joomla15 > > These look like they should work, but perhaps I am missing a step or > a few. BTW, I ran the above commands *before* attempting the install. > > Currently the Joomla file structure owner and group is root and once > group and other get rw permission it works (minus db tables). Do I > need a special owner and/or group with proper permissions to inherit > from? > > Note: I can correct the permissions after the fact, but this only > works when the Joomla extension is created in a way that makes it > possible. For example, some extensions create database tables > directly from PHP during installation, so the extension just won't > work - without *a lot* of hoop jumping. For extensions like CiviCRM, > the install PHP uses a SQL script to create tables, which I can > manually execute after the fact. But, of course, this is a pain, when > I know it should work seamlessly during install. > > Any help with this "inherited" permission issue would be greatly > appreciated. I have been banging my head against it for a week. </div></div>You will probably want to change the umask for the Joomla user to 2. This means that any files created by the Joomla user are set -rw-rw-r-- and any directories created by the Joomla user are set drwxrwxr-x You can set this in the .profile / .bashrc / other of the Joomla user. Then ensure that any relevant users are in the Joomla user's default group. -- ./k kurt von finck <a href="http://www.mneptok.com" target="_blank">http://www.mneptok.com</a> public key: <a href="http://keyserver.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">keyserver.ubuntu.com</a> key id: 5229D26A fingerprint: 127A A484 ADBF A5AD E7FB 8CD2 8913 18F4 5229 D26A Music is the space between the notes. - Debussy </blockquote></div> -- Dave Einerson IT Director Endorphin Power Company 509 Cardenas Dr. SE Albuquerque, NM 87108 <a href="http://www.endorphinpower.org/">http://www.endorphinpower.org/</a> <a href="http://endorphinpower.ning.com/">http://endorphinpower.ning.com/</a> <a href="http://djeresume.yolasite.com/">http://djeresume.yolasite.com/</a> <a href="mailto:deinerson1@gmail.com">deinerson1@gmail.com</a>