I am new to using PHP and i am trying to create a script that will create a folder and place a html document in the folder. So far i have done this with the following code

PHP Code:

mkdir ("{$rootpath}/{$username}", 0755);
$filename="{$rootpath}/{$username}/index.html";
$file=fopen($filename,"w", 0777);
fwrite($file, "Hello\n");
fclose($file); 


But the problem i am having is that once the file index.html is created i am unable to delete it from the sever. I have tried deleting it using WS FTP but it just wont delete. Can anyone tell me how to fix this?

I am not wanting to delete the file using PHP i am just wanting to delete the file at a later date using FTP. But every file i have created using the script at the top will not delete using FTP it just comes up with an error saying "550 Could not delete index.html: Permission denied". This only happens with files created with the php code.

1st thing.

Change the $file=fopen($filename,"w", 0777); to $file=fopen($filename,"w", 0755);
777 perms are dangerous VERY dangerous

You need to chown the permisions of the file for its been upload and set as apache's file which means you no longer own it.

chown($path, $user); where $user is your account username.

Ibbo

Originally Posted by ibbo

PHP Code:

chown($path, $user); 


The problem is that you need to run apache as root, which almost never happens and is much more dangerous than chmodding to 777.

PHP Code:

fopen($filename,"w", 0777); 


is not correct however. You can't set file permissions using the fopen function, use chmod instead:

PHP Code:

mkdir ("{$rootpath}/{$username}", 0755);
$filename="{$rootpath}/{$username}/index.html";
$file=fopen($filename,"w");
fwrite($file, "Hello\n");
fclose($file); 
chmod($filename, 0777); 


I have tried both of the above methods but neither work. The first one has this error

Warning: chown(): Operation not permitted in /home/username/public_html/multihost/regconfirm.php on line 150

and the second one operates fine but does not fix the problem of the below error in ws ftp

550 Could not delete index.html: Permission denied

Does anyone know how to fix this?

No of course not it does need root perms to run chmod on the server.

If all the folders and files are within a folder itself you can chgrp (folder, apache) before you upload it. Then you will have access to the folder where you can delete stuff etc.

failing that you can call unlink(file) which will use apache's permisions and drop the file for you.

Ibbo

Yeah, for some reason the chmod command doesn't have any effect on some servers. The only way I know to solve that, is to use ftp (this class helps alot). You could then write the file to a temporally location (using the script above, and then copy it to it's final location using ftp. Then delete the temp-file and you should be able to delete the file using your ftp-client .

Originally Posted by ibbo

No of course not it does need root perms to run chmod on the server.

If all the folders and files are within a folder itself you can chgrp (folder, apache) before you upload it. Then you will have access to the folder where you can delete stuff etc.

You do not need root permissions to use chmod, but you do need that to use chgrp. So that solves nothing.

failing that you can call unlink(file) which will use apache's permisions and drop the file for you.

That's true, but ezhs8554 wanted to delete them using his ftp-client.

I found this information on php.net. It is pretty much what Orodreth said i should do, but as i am very new to php i am having trouble getting the script to work. It has an error on the first line. To make it work i did add my login info but i am unsure if i did it correctly. Could someone tell me if this script will work and if so give me an example of what i need to change.


Sometimes a web host will open PHP sessions with a user of 'nobody'. Files created by this user may not have the correct permissions to allow management of those files by the actual owner of the site. The following script allows the actual owner to open access to a directory so that 'nobody' can create a file using fopen(). Then using the handle created by 'nobody', the ftp_fput() command saves the file with the correct owner. The file 'nobody' created is discarded.

PHP Code:

$connection = ftp_connect($ftpServer);
ftp_login($connection, $ftpUser, $ftpPass);
ftp_chdir($connection, $ftpDir);
// open the directory so that 'nobody' can create a temporary file 
ftp_site($cn, "CHMOD 777 $ftpDir");
$new="tempFile";
@unlink($new); // just in case
$handle=fopen($new,"x");
chmod($new,0777);
fputs($handle,"a bunch of stuff...");
fclose($handle); // have to rewind 
$handle=fopen("tempFile","r");
ftp_fput($connection, "finalFile", $handle, FTP_ASCII);
fclose($handle);
unlink($new);
// remove open access to the directory
ftp_site($connection, "CHMOD 755 $ftpDir")
ftp_close($connection); 


There are some errors in that code, but I don't see any in the first line. Here's what I would do:

PHP Code:

###########################
# ftp settings            #

$ftpServer='ftp.server.com'; //ftp server, without ftp://
$ftpPort=21;                 //the ftp port (don't change if you don't know what it is)
$ftpUser='username';         //ftp username
$ftpPass='password';         //ftp password

# end ftp settings        #
###########################

###########################
# file settings           #

$tempfile='tempfile.ext';
$file='definitive_file.ext';
$dir='/path/to/store/the/file/in';     //note, this is the ftp path, not the real path
$file_content='all the files content';
$dirpermissions=0755;                  //the final permissions of the dir

# end file settings       #
###########################

//connect to server
$connection = ftp_connect($ftpServer, $ftpPort);
ftp_login($connection, $ftpUser, $ftpPass);
ftp_chdir($connection, $ftpDir);

//chmod directory so that the server can create a file
ftp_chmod($connection, 0777, $ftpDir);

//make temporary file
$handle=fopen($tempfile, 'w');
fwrite($handle, $file_content);
fclose($handle);

//upload file using ftp
$handle=fopen($tempfile, 'r');
ftp_fput($connection, $file, $handle, FTP_ASCII);
fclose($handle);

//delete temporary file
unlink($new);

//reset directory permissions
ftp_chmod($connection, 0755, $ftpDir);

//close connection
ftp_close($connection); 


I didn't test it, but it should do the job.

Thanks Orodreth for that script i have it just about working. It is having one error. which is
"Fatal error: Call to undefined function: ftp_chmod()" I have found out that ftp_chmod is only supported in php 5 and my sever runs php 4. To fix this i have tried using the following code

PHP Code:

ftp_site($connection, 'CHMOD 0777'.$ftpDir); 


But i get this error Warning: ftp_site(): SITE CHMOD: No file name in /home/username/public_html/multihost/regconfirm.php on line 170

line 170 is the line shown above.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Whell, seems like you've entered a rong directory. It most be relative to your ftp-server-root, not the real root.

The directory i used was

/public_html/multihost/

i have also tried
/username/public_html/multihost/
/home/username/public_html/multihost/
/multihost/

I have got the same error with each one

If it's a Unix webserver, it usually follows the path as:

/home/public_html/multihost/

** Although - not always the case.