changing file permissions

[Markus Schönhaber]

norman:

> This may seem a very elementary question but it has me puzzled. I made
> some changes to a file using sudo gedit and saved the file. Because the
> action I was hoping for did not happen I looked at the file's
> permissions and found that in the execute box there was '-'. I read up
> on how to change permissions and did sudo chmod u+x filename 'enter' but
> the '-' did not change. What do I need to do to get a tick in the box,
> please?

The "execute box" will probably be ticked when u(ser), g(roup) and
o(thers) all have execute permission on the corresponding file. You could do
chmod ugo+x filename
or use the short hand "a" for "ugo"
chmod a+x filename

That said, I suggest you base your decision whom to grant which rights
on the answer to the question who really *needs* which rights, and not
on some kind of visualization of the permissions.

-- 
Regards
  mks