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Optimized Vimrc with 256 Colorscheme

AskApache — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:15:32 +0000

This is 90% geared for purely console/terminal/pty/tty/ssh/putty/telnet/tmux/screen users. I've only just the past couple years started understanding why it was key to learn vim, in the past I never had the patience for it and preferred nano-like editors. Now vim is all I use when on linux, it's so much more productive.. especially with a customized vimrc file. This doesn't require a git checkout, a vim update, a bash update, an OS update, a plugin. No. This is a single file that I use on Arch Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Debian, Ubuntu, Cent OS, Red Hat, and that's it so far. This is geared for users who use SSH more than anything else. Of course, it works perfect on an X enabled box locally as well.

ScreenShot

Setup

I install this as /etc/vimrc if possible. Individual users can use a vim config file in their home directories.

source /etc/vimrc

To install for a single user just save it in their home dir at /home/username/.vimrc

Portability

For the portability needed to work on many different systems, this doesn't rely on any plugins other than those built into the default installation of vim 7.0. It works well on all types of consoles, and depending on the TERM environment variable (and whether it has the right term capabilities) it will load 256 color support or not. Usually on a new system I just scp this right over and it works without any modifications. But an ongoing Work in progress.

Optimized Vimrc

Download - Optimized vimrc

" Updated: Wed Feb 22 13:25:23 2012 by galileo@galileo
 
" For all key mappings like ', .' to reload vimrc
let maplocalleader=','
 
" BACKUPS, SWAPFILES, VIEWDIR, TMPDIR  "{{{1
" ================================================================================================================================================================
 
" SET RUNTIMEPATH {{{3
if isdirectory(expand("$HOME/.vim"))
  let $VIMRUNTIME=expand("$HOME/.vim")
  set runtimepath=$VIMRUNTIME
endif
 
" IF BKDIR IS NOT SET OR EMPTY, SET {{{3
if $BKDIR == ""
  let $BKDIR=expand("$HOME/.bk")
  if !isdirectory(expand("$BKDIR"))
    call mkdir(expand("$BKDIR"), "p", 0700)
  endif
endif
 
" MAKE DIRS IF mkdir exists {{{3
if exists("*mkdir")
  if !isdirectory(expand("$BKDIR/.vim/viewdir"))|call mkdir(expand("$BKDIR/.vim/viewdir"), "p", 0700)|endif
  if !isdirectory(expand("$BKDIR/.vim/tmp"))|call mkdir(expand("$BKDIR/.vim/tmp"), "p", 0700)|endif
  if !isdirectory(expand("$BKDIR/.vim/backups"))|call mkdir(expand("$BKDIR/.vim/backups"), "p", 0700)|endif
endif
 
" SETTINGS USING NEW DIRS {{{3
let &dir=expand("$BKDIR") . "/.vim"
let &viewdir=expand("$BKDIR") . "/.vim/viewdir"
let &backupdir=expand("$BKDIR") . "/.vim/backups"
"let &verbosefile=expand("$BKDIR") . "/.vim/vim-messages.
 
" VIMINFO {{{3
" COMMENTED OUT {{{4
"  "       Maximum number of lines saved for each register
"  %       When included, save and restore the buffer lis
"  '       Maximum number of previously edited files for which the marks are remembere
"  /       Maximum number of items in the search pattern history to be saved
"  :        Maximum number of items in the command-line history
"  <       Maximum number of lines saved for each register.
"   @       Maximum number of items in the input-line history
"  h       Disable the effect of 'hlsearch' when loading the viminfo
"  n       Name of the viminfo file.  The name must immediately follow the 'n'.  Must be the last oneEnvironment variables are expanded when opening the file, not when setting the option
"  r       Removable media.  The argument is a string
"  s       Maximum size of an item in Kbyte
"   }}}4 COMMENTED OUT
let &viminfo="%200,'200,/800,h,<500,:500,s150,r/tmp,r" . expand("$BKDIR") . "/.vim/tmp,n" . expand("$BKDIR") ."/.vim/.vinfo"
 
" CUSTOM FUNCTIONS "{{{1
" ================================================================================================================================================================
if !exists("AskApacheLoaded")
  let AskApacheLoaded=1
 
  " FUNCTION - LastMod {{{3
  " Warning, this is controlled by an autocmd triggered when closing the file that updates the file (in a great way)
  " Updated: Wed Feb 22 13:25:23 2012 by galileo@galileo
  function! LastMod()
    exe "silent! 1,20s/Updated: .*/" . printf('Updated: %s by %s@%s', strftime("%c"), expand("$LOGNAME"), hostname()) . "/e"
  endfunction
 
  " FUNCTION - LastModNow {{{3
  " An even better version than LastMod()
  function! LastModNow()
    call setline(line('.'), printf('%sUpdated: %s by %s@%s', printf(&commentstring, ' '), strftime("%c"), expand("$LOGNAME"), hostname()))
    "printf('%sUpdated: %s by %s@%s', printf(&commentstring, ' '), strftime("%c"), expand("$LOGNAME"), hostname())\|dd\|j\|dd
    "printf('Updated: %s by %s %s', strftime("%c"), expand("$LOGNAME@$HOSTNAME")) ."/e"
  endfunction
 
  " FUNCTION - AppendModeline {{{3
  " Append modeline after last line in buffer.  Use substitute() instead of printf() to handle '%%s' modeline
  function! AppendModeline()
    let l:modeline = printf(" vim: set ft=%s ts=%d sw=%d tw=%d foldmethod=%s :", &filetype, &tabstop, &shiftwidth, &textwidth, &foldmethod)
    let l:modeline = substitute(&commentstring, "%s", l:modeline, "")
    call append(line("$"), l:modeline)
  endfunction
 
  " FUNCTION - LastModAAZZZ {{{3
  " AA_UPDATED='01/24/12-00:56:00'
  function! LastModAAZZZ()
    exe "1,50s/AA_UPDATED=.*/AA_UPDATED='" . strftime("%c") . "'"
  endfunction
 
  " FUNCTION - StripTrailingWhitespace {{{3
  " automatically remove trailing whitespace before write
  function! StripTrailingWhitespace()
    normal mZ
    %s/\s\+$//e
    if line("'Z") != line(".")|echo "Stripped whitespace\n"|endif
    normal `Z
  endfunction
 
  " FUNCTION - MyTabL {{{3
  function! MyTabL()
    let s = ''|let t = tabpagenr()|let i = 1
    while i <= tabpagenr('$')
      let bl = tabpagebuflist(i)|let wn = tabpagewinnr(i)
      let s .= '%' . i . 'T'. (i == t ? '%1*' : '%2*') . '%*' . (i == t ? ' %#TabLineSel# ' : '%#TabLine#')
      let file = (i == t ? fnamemodify(bufname(bl[wn - 1]), ':p') : fnamemodify(bufname(bl[wn - 1]), ':t') )|if file == ''|let file = '[No Name]'|endif
      let s .= i.' '. file .(i == t ? ' ' : '')|let i += 1
    endwhile
    let s .= '%T%#TabLineFill#%=' . (tabpagenr('$') > 1 ? '%999XX' : 'X')
    return s
  endfunction
 
  " FUNCTION - DiffWithSaved {{{3
  " Diff with saved version of the file
  function! s:DiffWithSaved()
    let filetype=&ft
    diffthis
    vnew | r # | normal! 1Gdd
    diffthis
    exe "setlocal bt=nofile bh=wipe nobl noswf ro ft=" . filetype
  endfunction
  com! DiffSaved call s:DiffWithSaved()
 
  " FUNCTION - ShowWhitespace() {{{3
  function! ShowWhitespace(flags)
    let bad = ''
    let pat = []
    for c in split(a:flags, '\zs')
      if c == 'e'
        call add(pat, '\s\+$')
      elseif c == 'i'
        call add(pat, '^\t*\zs \+')
      elseif c == 's'
        call add(pat, ' \+\ze\t')
      elseif c == 't'
        call add(pat, '[^\t]\zs\t\+')
      else
        let bad .= c
      endif
    endfor
 
    if len(pat) > 0
      let s = join(pat, '\|')
      exec 'syntax match ExtraWhitespace "'.s.'" containedin=ALL'
    else
      syntax clear ExtraWhitespace
    endif
 
    if len(bad) > 0|echo 'ShowWhitespace ignored: '.bad|endif
  endfunction
 
  " FUNCTION - ToggleShowWhitespace {{{3
  " I use this all the time, it's mapped to , ts
  function! ToggleShowWhitespace()
    if !exists('b:ws_show')|let b:ws_show = 0|endif
    if !exists('b:ws_flags')|let b:ws_flags = 'est'|endif
    let b:ws_show = !b:ws_show
    if b:ws_show|call ShowWhitespace(b:ws_flags)|else|call ShowWhitespace('')|endif
  endfunction
 
endif
 
" DYNAMIC SETTINGS / COLORS / TERMINAL {{{1
" ================================================================================================================================================================
 
" DISABLE MOUSE NO GOOEYS {{{3
if has('mouse')|set mouse=|endif
 
" SET TITLESTRING {{{3
if has('title')|set titlestring=%t%(\ [%R%M]%)|endif
 
" SET TABLINE {{{3
if exists("*s:MyTabL")|set tabline=%!MyTabL()|endif
 
let g:vimsyn_folding='af'
 
"DISABLE FILETYPE-SPECIFIC MAPS {{{3
let no_plugin_maps=1
 
"}}}1 DYNAMIC SETTINGS / COLORS / TERMINAL
 
" OPTIONS "{{{1
" ===========================================================================================================================================================================
 
" BACKUP, FILE OPTIONS {{{2
" ================================================================================
set backup        " Make a backup before overwriting a file.  Leave it around after the file has been successfully written.
set backupcopy=auto " When writing a file and a backup is made, this option tells how it's done.  This is a comma separated list of words. - value: yes,no,auto - no:rename the file and write a new one
 
set swapfile
set swapsync=fsync
 
"}}}2 BACKUP, FILE OPTIONS
 
" BASIC SETTINGS "{{{2
" ================================================================================
set nocompatible    " vim, not vi.. must be first, because it changes other options as a side effect
set modeline
 
set statusline=%M%h%y\ %t\ %F\ %p%%\ %l/%L\ %=[%{&ff},%{&ft}]\ [a=\%03.3b]\ [h=\%02.2B]\ [%l,%v]
set title titlelen=150 titlestring=%(\ %M%)%(\ (%{expand(\"%:p:h\")})%)%(\ %a%)\ -\ %{v:servername}
 
"set tags=tags;/      " search recursively up for tags
 
set ttyfast        " we have a fast terminal
set scrolljump=5    " when scrolling up down, show at least 5 lines
"set ttyscroll=999    " make vim redraw screen instead of scrolling when there are more than 3 lines to be scrolled
 
"set tw=500        " default textwidth is a max of 5
 
set undolevels=10    " 50 undos - saved in memory
set updatecount=250    " switch every 250 chars, save swap
 
set whichwrap+=b,s,<,>,h,l,[,]      " backspaces and cursor keys wrap to
"set wildignore+=*.o,*~,.lo,*.exe,*.bak  " ignore object files
"set wildmenu              " menu has tab completion
"set wildmode=longest:full        " *wild* mode
set nowrap
 
set autoindent smartindent    " auto/smart indent
 
set autoread          " watch for file changes
 
set backspace=indent,eol,start  " backspace over all kinds of things
 
set cmdheight=1          " command line two lines high
set complete=.,w,b,u,U,t,i,d  " do lots of scanning on tab completion
set cursorline          " show the cursor line
"set enc=utf-8 fenc=utf-8    " utf-8
 
set history=3000        " keep 3000 lines of command line history
 
set keywordprg=TERM=mostlike\ man\ -s\ -Pless
 
set laststatus=2
 
"set lazyredraw          " don't redraw when don't have to
set linebreak          " wrap at 'breakat' instead of last char
set magic            " Enable the "magic"
 
set maxmem=25123  " 24 MB -  max mem in Kbyte to use for one buffer.  Max is 2000000
 
set noautowrite          " don't automagically write on :next
 
set noexpandtab          " no expand tabs to spaces"
set noruler          " show the line number on the bar
set nospell
set nohidden          " close the buffer when I close a tab (I use tabs more than buffers)
 
set noerrorbells visualbell t_vb= " Disable ALL bells
 
set number          " line numbers
 
set pastetoggle=
 
set scrolloff=3        " keep at least 3 lines above/below
set shiftwidth=3      " shift width
 
set showcmd          " Show us the command we're typing
set showfulltag        " show full completion tags
set showmode        " show the mode all the time
 
set sidescroll=2      " if wrap is off, this is fasster for horizontal scrolling
set sidescrolloff=2      "keep at least 5 lines left/right
 
set noguipty
 
set splitright
set splitbelow
 
set restorescreen=on " restore screen contents when vim exits -  disable withset t_ti= t_te=
 
"set sessionoptions=word,blank,buffers,curdir,folds,globals,help,localoptions,resize,sesdir,tabpages,winpos,winsize
set winheight=25
set winminheight=1  " minimal value for window height
"set winheight=30  " set the minimal window height
set equalalways    " all the windows are automatically sized same
set eadirection=both  " only equalalways for horizontally split windows
 
set hlsearch
 
set laststatus=2
 
set tabstop=4
set softtabstop=4
 
set shiftwidth=3
set switchbuf=usetab
 
set commentstring=#%s
 
set tabpagemax=55
set showtabline=2    " 2 always, 1 only if multiple tabs
set smarttab      " tab and backspace are smart
 
set foldmethod=marker
set foldenable
set foldcolumn=6        " the blank left-most bar left of the numbered lines
 
set incsearch          " incremental search
"set ignorecase          " search ignoring case
set sc              " override 'ignorecase' when pattern has upper case characters
set smartcase          " Ignore case when searching lowercase
 
set showmatch          " show matching bracket
set diffopt=filler,iwhite    " ignore all whitespace and sync"
set stal=2
 
"}}}1 OPTIONS
 
" PLUGIN SETTINGS {{{1
" ================================================================================================================================================================
" Settings for :TOhtml "{{{3
let html_number_lines=1
let html_use_css=1
let use_xhtml=1
"}}}1 PLUGIN SETTINGS
 
" COLORSCHEME IF MORE THAN 2 COLORS lol {{{1
" ================================================================================================================================================================
if &t_Co > 2
 
  if &term =~ "256"
 
    set bg=dark t_Co=256 vb
    let &t_vb="\[?5h\[?5l"  " flash screen for visual bell
 
    if filereadable(expand("$VIMRUNTIME/colors/askapachecode.vim"))
      colorscheme askapachecode
    elseif filereadable(expand("$HOME/.vim/colors/askapachecode.vim"))
      colorscheme askapachecode
    else
      colorscheme default
    endif
 
    filetype indent plugin on
    syntax on
 
  else
    " things like cfdisk, crontab -e, visudo, vless, etc.
    set term=linux
    set t_Co=8
    syntax off
    filetype indent plugin off
 
  endif
 
endif
 
"}}}1
 
" AUTOCOMMANDS "{{{1
" ===========================================================================================================================================================================
"if !exists(":DiffOrig") | command DiffOrig vert new | set bt=nofile | r # | 0d_ | diffthis | wincmd p | diffthis | endif
 
" auto load extensions for different file types
if has('autocmd')
 
  if !exists("autocommands_loaded")
    let autocommands_loaded = 1
 
    " JUMP TO LAST POS {{{3
    " When editing a file, always jump to the last known cursor position. Don't do it when the position is invalid or when inside an event handler
    " (happens when dropping a file on gvim). Also don't do it when the mark is in the first line, that is the default position when opening a file.
    au BufReadPost * if line("'\"") > 1 && line("'\"") <= line("$") | exe "normal! g`\"" | endif
 
    " CLEARMATCHES ON BUFWINLEAVE {{{3
    au BufWinLeave * call clearmatches()
 
    " STRIP TRAILING WHITESPACE {{{3
    autocmd BufWritePre *.cpp,*.hpp,*.i :call StripTrailingWhitespace()
 
    " AA_ZZZ LAST MOD {{{3
    autocmd BufWritePre,FileWritePre,TabLeave zzz_askapache-bash.sh ks|call LastModAAZZZ()|'s
 
    " SET VIM SETTINGS FOR AA_ZZZ SCRIPTS {{{3
    autocmd BufRead /etc/ZZZ/*.sh,.bash_profile,.bash_login,.bashrc,.bash_login_user,.bash_logout setlocal ts=4 sw=3 ft=sh foldmethod=marker tw=500 foldcolumn=7
 
    " INSERT CURRENT DATE AND TIME IN A *.SH FILE WHEN WRITING IT {{{3
    autocmd BufWritePre,FileWritePre *.*   ks|call LastMod()|'s
 
    " IMPROVE LEGIBILITY {{{3
    autocmd BufRead quickfix setlocal nobuflisted wrap number
 
    " SAVE BACKUPFILE AS BACKUPDIR/FILENAME-06-13-1331 {{{3
    autocmd BufWritePre * let &bex = strftime("-%m-%d-%H%M")
 
    " TMUX FILETYPE {{{3
    autocmd BufRead tmux.conf,.tmux.conf,.tmux*,*/tmux-sessions/* setlocal filetype=tmux foldmethod=marker
 
    " APACHE2 FILETYPE {{{3
    autocmd BufRead /opt/a*/conf/*,/etc/httpd/*.conf setlocal filetype=apache
 
    " SH FILETYPES {{{3
    autocmd BufRead *.sh,*.cron,*.bash setlocal filetype=sh
 
    " SYSLOG-NG FILETYPE {{{3
    autocmd BufRead syslog-ng.conf setlocal filetype=syslog-ng
 
    " COMMENTSTRING FOR VIM "{{{3
    au FileType vim setlocal commentstring="%s
 
    " COMMENTSTRING FOR XDEFAULTS "{{{3
    au FileType xdefaults setlocal foldmethod=marker foldlevel=2 commentstring=!%s
 
    " VIMRC {{{3
    augroup vimrc
      au BufReadPre * setlocal foldmethod=indent
      au BufWinEnter * if &fdm == 'indent' | set foldmethod=manual | endif
      au BufRead *.vim,vimrc,*.vimrc set filetype=vim ts=3 sw=3 tw=500 foldmethod=marker foldcolumn=6
    augroup END
 
    " AUTOMKVIEWS {{{3
    " Warning - this will save your settings for each file you edit and restore those settings when opened again - can fill up quick
    au BufWinLeave *.sh,*.conf,*.vim,*.c,*.txt,.htaccess,*.cgi,*.php,*.html,*.conf,vimrc mkview
    au BufWinEnter *.sh,*.conf,*.vim,*.c,*.txt,.htaccess,*.cgi,*.php,*.html,*.conf,vimrc silent loadview
    " }}}3
 
    " MAN RUNTIME - TODO REPLACE WITH TMUXES CTRL-M BINDING {{{3
    " Lets you type :Man anymanpage and it will load in vim, color-coded and searchable
    "runtime ftplugin/man.vim
 
  endif
 
endif
"}}}1
 
" MAPS "{{{1
" ===========================================================================================================================================================================
 
" FUNCTION MAPS {{{2
" ---------------------------------
" APPEND MODELINE {{{3
map  ml :call AppendModeline()
 
" SHOW WHITESPACE {{{3
nnoremap ts :call ToggleShowWhitespace()
 
" SUDO A WRITE {{{3
command! W :execute ':silent w !sudo tee % > /dev/null' | :edit!
"cmap w!! %!sudo tee > /dev/null %
" :w !sudo tee > /dev/null %
 
" SET TABLINE {{{3
" My Personal Fav, inserts last-modified manually on current line when you press  key
" call setline(1, printf('%sUpdated: %s by %s@%s', printf(&commentstring, ' '), strftime("%c"), expand("$LOGNAME"), hostname()))
if exists("*s:LastModNow")
  map   :call LastModNow()
endif
 
" RELOAD VIMRC FILES {{{3
map . :mkview:unlet! AskApacheLoaded autocommands_loaded:mapclear:source /etc/vimrc:echoerr 'VIMRC RELOADED'
 
" SCROLLING MAPS {{{3
map  :set scroll=0:set scroll^=2:set scroll-=1:set scroll=0
map  :set scroll=0:set scroll^=2:set scroll-=1:set scroll=0
nnoremap   
vnoremap   
inoremap   
nnoremap   
vnoremap   
inoremap   
"}}}3
 
" KEY MAPS {{{2
" physically map keys to produce different key, type CTRL-V in insert mode followed by any key to see how vim sees it
" ----------------------------------------
imap [8~ 
map [8~ 
 
imap [7~ 
map [7~ 
 
" Basic Maps  {{{2
" ----------------------------------------
" TOGGLE PASTE MODE {{{3
map pm :set nonumber! foldcolumn=0
 
" REINDENT FILE {{{3
map ri G=gg
 
" CLEAR SPACES AT END OF LINE {{{3
map cs :%s/\s\+$//e
 
" Y YANKS FROM CURSOR TO $ {{{3
map Y y$
 
" DON'T USE EX MODE, USE Q FOR FORMATTING {{{3
map Q gq
map! ^H ^?
 
" NEXT SEARCH RESULT {{{3
map  cn :cn
 
" WRAP? {{{3
map  ww :ww
 
" ERR INSERTION {{{3
"map  e A=printf('%s', '_err "$0 $FUNCNAME:$LINENO FAILED WITH ARGS= $*"')
 
" CUSTOM LINES FOR CODING {{{3
map  l1 A=printf('%s%s', printf(&commentstring, ' '), repeat('=', 160))
map  l2 A=printf('%s%s', printf(&commentstring, ' '), repeat('=', 80))
map  l3 A=printf('%s%s', printf(&commentstring, ' '), repeat('-', 40))
map  l4 A=printf('%s%s', printf(&commentstring, ' '), repeat('-', 20))
 
" CHANGE DIRECTORY TO THAT OF CURRENT FILE {{{3
nmap cd :cd%:p:h
 
" CHANGE LOCAL DIRECTORY TO THAT OF CURRENT FILE {{{3
nmap lcd :lcd%:p:h
 
" TOGGLE WRAPPING {{{3
nmap ww :set wrap!
nmap wo :set wrap
 
" TABS "{{{2
" ---------------------------------
 
" CREATE A NEW TAB {{{3
map tc :tabnew %
 
" LAST TAB {{{3
map t :tablast
 
" CLOSE A TAB {{{3
map tk :tabclose
 
" NEXT TAB {{{3
map tn :tabnext
 
" PREVIOUS TAB {{{3
map tp :tabprev
 
" FOLDS   "{{{2
" ---------------------------------
" Fold with paren begin/end matching
nmap F zf%
 
" When I use ,sf - return to syntax folding with a big foldcolumn
nmap sf :set foldcolumn=6 foldmethod=syntax
"}}}2
 
"}}}1
 
" HILITE "{{{1
" ===========================================================================================================================================================================
hi NonText cterm=NONE ctermfg=NONE
hi Search cterm=bold ctermbg=99 ctermfg=17
"}}}

Colorscheme

Here is a colorscheme file optimized for 256 colors. It will work if saved in ~/.vim/colors/askapachecode.vim or likewise in your runtimepath. Additionally, you could just paste it in the bottom of the above vimrc. The code really needs to be cleaned up, but it looks awesome.

Download - askapachecode - 256 Colors Vim Colorscheme

~/.vim/colors/askapachecode.vim

" Vim color file -- askapachecode
" Maintainer: AskApache 
" Updated: Wed Feb 22 14:10:54 2012 by galileo@galileo
 
set background=dark
hi clear
 
if exists("syntax_on")|syntax reset|endif
 
let g:colors_name="askapachecode"
 
" Vim >= 7.0 specific colors
if version >= 700
 hi CursorLine ctermbg=236
 hi CursorColumn ctermbg=236
 hi MatchParen ctermfg=157 ctermbg=237 cterm=bold
 hi Pmenu ctermfg=255 ctermbg=238
 hi PmenuSel ctermfg=0 ctermbg=148
endif
 
" General colors
hi Cursor ctermbg=241
hi Normal ctermfg=253 ctermbg=232
hi NonText ctermfg=244 ctermbg=235
hi LineNr ctermfg=244 ctermbg=232
hi StatusLine ctermfg=253 ctermbg=238 cterm=italic
hi StatusLineNC ctermfg=246 ctermbg=238
hi VertSplit ctermfg=238 ctermbg=238
hi Folded ctermbg=4 ctermfg=248
hi Title ctermfg=254 cterm=bold
hi Visual ctermfg=254 ctermbg=4
hi SpecialKey ctermfg=244 ctermbg=236
 
hi pythonOperator ctermfg=103
 
hi Search cterm=NONE  
 
" basic highlight groups (:help highlight-groups) {{{1
 
" text {{{2
hi Normal ctermfg=white ctermbg=black cterm=NONE
hi Folded ctermfg=lightgray ctermbg=black cterm=underline
hi LineNr ctermfg=darkgray ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
hi Directory ctermfg=cyan ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
hi NonText ctermfg=yellow ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
hi SpecialKey ctermfg=green ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
 
hi DiffAdd ctermfg=white ctermbg=darkblue cterm=NONE
hi DiffChange ctermfg=black ctermbg=darkmagenta cterm=NONE
hi DiffDelete ctermfg=black ctermbg=red cterm=bold
hi DiffText ctermfg=white ctermbg=green cterm=bold
 
" borders / separators / menus {{{2
hi FoldColumn ctermfg=lightgray ctermbg=darkgray cterm=NONE
hi SignColumn ctermfg=lightgray ctermbg=darkgray cterm=NONE
hi Pmenu ctermfg=white ctermbg=darkgray cterm=NONE
hi PmenuSel ctermfg=white ctermbg=lightblue cterm=NONE
hi PmenuSbar ctermfg=black ctermbg=black cterm=NONE
hi PmenuThumb ctermfg=gray ctermbg=gray cterm=NONE
 
hi StatusLine ctermfg=black ctermbg=white cterm=bold
hi StatusLineNC ctermfg=darkgray ctermbg=white cterm=NONE
hi WildMenu ctermfg=white ctermbg=darkblue cterm=bold
hi VertSplit ctermfg=white ctermbg=white cterm=NONE
 
if &t_Co == 256|hi TabLine ctermfg=15 ctermbg=242 term=underline|else|hi TabLine ctermfg=grey ctermbg=white term=underline|endif
"hi TabLine ctermfg=white ctermbg=white cterm=NONE
hi TabLineFill ctermfg=grey ctermbg=white cterm=NONE
"hi TabLineSel ctermfg=black ctermbg=green cterm=NONE
hi TabLineSel ctermfg=green ctermbg=black term=bold
"hi TabLineSel term=bold cterm=bold
"hi TabLineFill term=reverse cterm=reverse 
"hi TabLine term=underline cterm=underline ctermfg=15 ctermbg=242
 
"hi Menu
"hi Scrollbar
"hi Tooltip
 
" cursor / dynamic / other {{{2
hi Cursor ctermfg=black ctermbg=white cterm=NONE
hi CursorIM ctermfg=black ctermbg=white cterm=reverse
hi CursorLine ctermfg=NONE ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
hi CursorColumn ctermfg=NONE ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
 
hi Visual ctermfg=white ctermbg=lightblue cterm=NONE
hi IncSearch ctermfg=white ctermbg=yellow cterm=NONE
hi Search ctermfg=white ctermbg=darkgreen cterm=NONE
 
" LISTINGS / MESSAGES {{{2
hi ModeMsg ctermfg=yellow ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
hi Title ctermfg=red ctermbg=NONE cterm=bold
hi Question ctermfg=green ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
hi MoreMsg ctermfg=green ctermbg=NONE cterm=NONE
hi ErrorMsg ctermfg=white ctermbg=red cterm=bold
hi WarningMsg ctermfg=yellow ctermbg=NONE cterm=bold
 
hi Directory term=bold ctermfg=4 "{{{
hi ErrorMsg term=standout ctermfg=15 ctermbg=1  
hi IncSearch term=reverse cterm=reverse 
hi Search term=NONE ctermfg=255 ctermbg=135
hi MoreMsg term=bold ctermfg=2  
hi ModeMsg term=bold cterm=bold 
hi LineNr term=underline ctermfg=244 ctermbg=232  
hi Question term=standout ctermfg=2  
hi StatusLine term=bold,reverse cterm=italic ctermfg=253 ctermbg=238   
hi StatusLineNC term=reverse cterm=reverse ctermfg=246 ctermbg=238  
hi VertSplit term=reverse cterm=reverse ctermfg=238 ctermbg=238  
hi Title term=bold cterm=bold ctermfg=254  
hi Visual term=reverse ctermfg=254 ctermbg=4  
hi VisualNOS term=bold,underline cterm=bold,underline
hi WarningMsg term=standout ctermfg=1 
hi WildMenu term=standout ctermfg=0 ctermbg=11  
hi Folded term=standout cterm=BOLD ctermfg=7 ctermbg=27
hi FoldColumn term=NONE cterm=NONE ctermfg=75 ctermbg=16
hi IncSearch term=bold,underline cterm=bold,underline ctermfg=7 ctermbg=9
hi DiffAdd term=bold ctermbg=12 
hi DiffChange term=bold ctermbg=13 
hi DiffDelete term=bold ctermfg=12 ctermbg=14   
hi DiffText term=reverse cterm=bold ctermbg=9  
hi SpellBad term=reverse ctermbg=9  
hi SpellCap term=reverse ctermbg=12  
hi SpellRare term=reverse ctermbg=13  
hi SpellLocal term=underline ctermbg=14  
hi Pmenu ctermfg=255 ctermbg=238  
hi PmenuSel ctermfg=0 ctermbg=148  
hi PmenuSbar ctermbg=7 
hi PmenuThumb cterm=reverse 
hi TabLine term=underline cterm=underline ctermfg=0 ctermbg=7  
hi TabLineSel term=bold cterm=bold 
hi TabLineFill term=reverse cterm=reverse 
hi CursorLine term=underline cterm=bold ctermbg=234
hi Cursor ctermbg=241 
hi MatchParen term=reverse cterm=bold ctermfg=157 ctermbg=237   
hi Error term=reverse ctermfg=15 ctermbg=9  
 
" :hi TabLineSel|hi TabLineFill|hi TabLine
"hi TabLineSel term=bold cterm=bold 
"hi TabLineFill term=reverse cterm=reverse 
"hi TabLine term=underline cterm=underline ctermfg=15 ctermbg=242 
hi ExtraWhitespace ctermbg=red
hi Comment term=none ctermfg=darkgrey 
hi Constant term=underline ctermfg=Magenta 
hi Special term=bold ctermfg=DarkMagenta 
hi Identifier term=underline cterm=bold ctermfg=Cyan 
hi Statement term=bold ctermfg=Yellow 
hi PreProc term=underline ctermfg=LightBlue 
hi Type term=underline ctermfg=LightGreen 
hi Repeat term=underline ctermfg=White 
hi Operator ctermfg=Red 
hi Ignore ctermfg=black 
hi Error term=reverse ctermbg=Red ctermfg=White 
hi Todo term=standout ctermbg=Yellow ctermfg=Black 
 
" COMMON GROUPS THAT LINK TO DEFAULT HIGHLIGHTING.
 
hi Function ctermfg=85
hi String ctermfg=204
hi Statement term=bold cterm=bold ctermfg=81
hi Function term=bold cterm=bold ctermfg=32
hi Number ctermfg=129
hi Conditional term=bold cterm=bold ctermfg=47
hi Special term=underline ctermfg=191
hi Normal ctermfg=7
hi PreProc ctermfg=141
" Syntax highlighting
hi Comment ctermfg=244
hi Todo ctermfg=245
hi Boolean ctermfg=148
hi String ctermfg=148
hi Identifier ctermfg=148
hi Function ctermfg=124
hi Type ctermfg=103
hi Statement ctermfg=103
hi Keyword ctermfg=81
hi Constant ctermfg=81
hi Number ctermfg=81
hi Special ctermfg=81
hi PreProc ctermfg=230
" Code-specific colors
 
 
" SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING GROUPS (:HELP GROUP-NAME) {{{2
hi FoldColumn ctermbg=0 ctermfg=2
hi Folded cterm=none ctermfg=2
hi NonText cterm=NONE ctermfg=NONE 
hi StatusLine ctermfg=black ctermbg=White cterm=bold
hi StatusLineNC ctermfg=White ctermbg=green cterm=NONE
hi CursorLine cterm=bold term=bold
 
" FINAL THOUGHTS "{{{2
"syn region myFold start="{" end="}" transparent fold
hi Search term=reverse ctermfg=0 ctermbg=11
hi LineNr term=underline ctermfg=244 ctermbg=232
hi MatchParen ctermfg=15 ctermbg=242
hi String ctermfg=10
hi Constant ctermfg=14
hi Identifier ctermfg=14
hi Operator ctermfg=13
hi NonText cterm=NONE ctermfg=NONE
hi Search cterm=bold ctermbg=99 ctermfg=17

Additional Resources

The perfect .vimrc vim config file

Optimized Vimrc with 256 Colorscheme originally appeared on AskApache.com

Chmod, Umask, Stat, Fileperms, and File Permissions

AskApache — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:16:56 +0000

AskApache.com

Unix file permissions are one of the more difficult subjects to grasp.. Well, ok maybe "grasp" isn't the word.. Master is the right word.. Unix file permissions is a hard topic to fully master, mainly I think because there aren't many instances when a computer user encounters them. Windows has been trying to figure it out for decades with little progress, so don't feel bad if you don't know much about it. Unless you're with the program and running Mac or any other BSD/Unix based OS you've never had the ability to secure your system in this most basic and fundamental way. Usually the first time someone encounters file permissions it's because their website was cracked..

.htaccess

$ chmod 604 .htaccess

604 -rw----r--  /home/askapache/cgi-bin/.htaccess

php.cgi

$ chmod 711 php.cgi

$ 711 -rwx--x--x  /home/askapache/cgi-bin/php.cgi

.php.ini

$ chmod 600 php.ini

$ 600 -rw-------  /home/askapache/cgi-bin/php.ini

I'm in the process of developing an updated version of the .htaccess security plugin, and one thing I have been working on is file permissions. Some people had problems trying to create files on their server and I realized it was bad programming on my part.. so I began researching permissions in detail. I went deep into the source code of Apache (which is why this site is called AskApache, BTW), PHP, Python, Ocaml, Perl, Ruby, and POSIX operating systems and got a pretty good handle on it now..

Tips before we dig in

Here's a few things I've learned that I didn't know before (using php).

Deleting Files and Directories

Deleting a file may require chmodding the file to 666 or even 777 before you are able to delete it. You also might have to chmod the parent directory of the file as well. Also, you may have to chdir to the directory the file is in. And lastly you may have to change the owner or group of the file. Further than that you can try renaming the file first then deleting it..

Deleting a directory means you need to remove every file in it first. It needs to be empty. And if your file system uses NFS or some other networked FS you might have even more problems deleting files. If the file you are trying to delete is being used by say, Apache or php then you might have to kill that process first.

Creating Files in Restrictive Environments

My research has been geared to try and make my code as robust as possible, I'm throwing everything but the kitchen sink into some of these functions because so many people are on such different types of servers. To create a file in a restrictive environment is a fun excercise to take.. You can write a file using many different functions, but there are some tricks if they all fail. One trick is instead of trying to "write" the data to the file, you can UPLOAD the data to the server and let PHP handle the file as if you used an upload form. I like to use fsockopen to do it, as some installations have been setup to prevent this type of fake upload.

Then there are the various other hacks like using an ftp connection (if you know the user/pass) to send the file from php, using ssh from php, whatever is available on the hosts php installation. In addition to those more involved workarounds you can often get around this problem by doing little hacks discussed at php.net in the comments for various functions. Such as changing the umask, changing directories with chdir first, creating a temporary file using a function like tempfile and then renaming or copying the tempfile to your desired file which sometimes gives you the permissions needed to write to the location.

If the php installation is newer than you can also look into creating your own stream context to pass write the data direct.

Stat Function

I've created a stat function in php that goes farther than the normal stat function... Just give the function a file to stat, and it returns an array of information.

function askapache_stat($filename) {
 clearstatcache();
 $ss=@stat($filename);
 if(!$ss) die("Couldnt stat {$filename}");
 $file_convert=array(0140000=>'ssocket',0120000=>'llink',0100000=>'-file',0060000=>'bblock',0040000=>'ddir',0020000=>'cchar',0010000=>'pfifo');
 $p=$ss['mode'];
 $t=decoct($ss['mode'] & 0170000);
 $str = (array_key_exists(octdec($t),$file_convert)) ? $file_convert[octdec($t)]{0} : 'u';
 $str.=(($p&0x0100)?'r':'-').(($p&0x0080)?'w':'-').(($p&0x0040)?(($p&0x0800)?'s':'x'):(($p&0x0800)?'S':'-'));
 $str.=(($p&0x0020)?'r':'-').(($p&0x0010)?'w':'-').(($p&0x0008)?(($p&0x0400)?'s':'x'):(($p&0x0400)?'S':'-'));
 $str.=(($p&0x0004)?'r':'-').(($p&0x0002)?'w':'-').(($p&0x0001)?(($p&0x0200)?'t':'x'):(($p&0x0200)?'T':'-'));
 
 $s=array(
 'perms'=>array(
  'umask'=>sprintf("%04o",umask()),
  'human'=>$str,
  'octal1'=>sprintf("%o", ($ss['mode'] & 000777)),
  'octal2'=>sprintf("0%o", 0777 & $p),
  'decimal'=>sprintf("%04o", $p),
  'fileperms'=>@fileperms($filename),
  'mode1'=>$p,
  'mode2'=>$ss['mode']),
 
 'filetype'=>array(
  'type'=>substr($file_convert[octdec($t)],1),
  'type_octal'=>sprintf("%07o", octdec($t)),
  'is_file'=>@is_file($filename),
  'is_dir'=>@is_dir($filename),
  'is_link'=>@is_link($filename),
  'is_readable'=> @is_readable($filename),
  'is_writable'=> @is_writable($filename)),
 
 'owner'=>array(
  'fileowner'=>$ss['uid'],
  'filegroup'=>$ss['gid'],
  'owner_name'=>(function_exists('posix_getpwuid')) ? @reset(@posix_getpwuid($ss['uid'])) : '',
  'group_name'=>(function_exists('posix_getgrgid')) ? @reset(@posix_getgrgid($ss['gid'])) : ''),
 
 'file'=>array(
  'filename'=>$filename,
  'realpath'=>(@realpath($filename) != $filename) ? @realpath($filename) : '',
  'dirname'=>@dirname($filename),
  'basename'=>@basename($filename)),
 
 'device'=>array(
  'device'=>$ss['dev'], //Device
  'device_number'=>$ss['rdev'], //Device number, if device.
  'inode'=>$ss['ino'], //File serial number
  'link_count'=>$ss['nlink'], //link count
  'link_to'=>($s['type']=='link') ? @readlink($filename) : ''),
 
 'size'=>array(
  'size'=>$ss['size'], //Size of file, in bytes.
  'blocks'=>$ss['blocks'], //Number 512-byte blocks allocated
  'block_size'=> $ss['blksize']), //Optimal block size for I/O.
 
 'time'=>array(
  'mtime'=>$ss['mtime'], //Time of last modification
  'atime'=>$ss['atime'], //Time of last access.
  'ctime'=>$ss['ctime'], //Time of last status change
  'accessed'=>@date('Y M D H:i:s',$ss['atime']),
  'modified'=>@date('Y M D H:i:s',$ss['mtime']),
  'created'=>@date('Y M D H:i:s',$ss['ctime'])),
 );
 
 clearstatcache();
 return $s;
}

PHP Stat Function Output

Example output, say from print_r(askapache_stat( __FILE__ ) );

Array(
[perms] => Array
  (
  [umask] => 0022
  [human] => -rw-r--r--
  [octal1] => 644
  [octal2] => 0644
  [decimal] => 100644
  [fileperms] => 33188
  [mode1] => 33188
  [mode2] => 33188
  )
 
[filetype] => Array
  (
  [type] => file
  [type_octal] => 0100000
  [is_file] => 1
  [is_dir] =>
  [is_link] =>
  [is_readable] => 1
  [is_writable] => 1
  )
 
[owner] => Array
  (
  [fileowner] => 035483
  [filegroup] => 23472
  [owner_name] => askapache
  [group_name] => grp22558
  )
 
[file] => Array
  (
  [filename] => /home/askapache/askapache-stat/public_html/ok/g.php
  [realpath] =>
  [dirname] => /home/askapache/askapache-stat/public_html/ok
  [basename] => g.php
  )
 
[device] => Array
  (
  [device] => 25
  [device_number] => 0
  [inode] => 92455020
  [link_count] => 1
  [link_to] =>
  )
 
[size] => Array
  (
  [size] => 2652
  [blocks] => 8
  [block_size] => 8192
  )
 
[time] => Array
  (
  [mtime] => 1227685253
  [atime] => 1227685138
  [ctime] => 1227685253
  [accessed] => 2008 Nov Tue 23:38:58
  [modified] => 2008 Nov Tue 23:40:53
  [created] => 2008 Nov Tue 23:40:53
  )
)

Every Permission 0000 to 0777

This shows what each numeric permission does to a REGULAR file. I'll provide the code to do this below so you can do the same thing on your server.

chmod 0: ----------
chmod 1: ---------x
chmod 2: --------w-
chmod 3: --------wx
chmod 4: -------r--
chmod 5: -------r-x
chmod 6: -------rw-
chmod 7: -------rwx
chmod 10: ------x---
chmod 11: ------x--x
chmod 12: ------x-w-
chmod 13: ------x-wx
chmod 14: ------xr--
chmod 15: ------xr-x
chmod 16: ------xrw-
chmod 17: ------xrwx
chmod 20: -----w----
chmod 21: -----w---x
chmod 22: -----w--w-
chmod 23: -----w--wx
chmod 24: -----w-r--
chmod 25: -----w-r-x
chmod 26: -----w-rw-
chmod 27: -----w-rwx
chmod 30: -----wx---
chmod 31: -----wx--x
chmod 32: -----wx-w-
chmod 33: -----wx-wx
chmod 34: -----wxr--
chmod 35: -----wxr-x
chmod 36: -----wxrw-
chmod 37: -----wxrwx
chmod 40: ----r-----
chmod 41: ----r----x
chmod 42: ----r---w-
chmod 43: ----r---wx
chmod 44: ----r--r--
chmod 45: ----r--r-x
chmod 46: ----r--rw-
chmod 47: ----r--rwx
chmod 50: ----r-x---
chmod 51: ----r-x--x
chmod 52: ----r-x-w-
chmod 53: ----r-x-wx
chmod 54: ----r-xr--
chmod 55: ----r-xr-x
chmod 56: ----r-xrw-
chmod 57: ----r-xrwx
chmod 60: ----rw----
chmod 61: ----rw---x
chmod 62: ----rw--w-
chmod 63: ----rw--wx
chmod 64: ----rw-r--
chmod 65: ----rw-r-x
chmod 66: ----rw-rw-
chmod 67: ----rw-rwx
chmod 70: ----rwx---
chmod 71: ----rwx--x
chmod 72: ----rwx-w-
chmod 73: ----rwx-wx
chmod 74: ----rwxr--
chmod 75: ----rwxr-x
chmod 76: ----rwxrw-
chmod 77: ----rwxrwx
chmod 100: ---x------
chmod 101: ---x-----x
chmod 102: ---x----w-
chmod 103: ---x----wx
chmod 104: ---x---r--
chmod 105: ---x---r-x
chmod 106: ---x---rw-
chmod 107: ---x---rwx
chmod 110: ---x--x---
chmod 111: ---x--x--x
chmod 112: ---x--x-w-
chmod 113: ---x--x-wx
chmod 114: ---x--xr--
chmod 115: ---x--xr-x
chmod 116: ---x--xrw-
chmod 117: ---x--xrwx
chmod 120: ---x-w----
chmod 121: ---x-w---x
chmod 122: ---x-w--w-
chmod 123: ---x-w--wx
chmod 124: ---x-w-r--
chmod 125: ---x-w-r-x
chmod 126: ---x-w-rw-
chmod 127: ---x-w-rwx
chmod 130: ---x-wx---
chmod 131: ---x-wx--x
chmod 132: ---x-wx-w-
chmod 133: ---x-wx-wx
chmod 134: ---x-wxr--
chmod 135: ---x-wxr-x
chmod 136: ---x-wxrw-
chmod 137: ---x-wxrwx
chmod 140: ---xr-----
chmod 141: ---xr----x
chmod 142: ---xr---w-
chmod 143: ---xr---wx
chmod 144: ---xr--r--
chmod 145: ---xr--r-x
chmod 146: ---xr--rw-
chmod 147: ---xr--rwx
chmod 150: ---xr-x---
chmod 151: ---xr-x--x
chmod 152: ---xr-x-w-
chmod 153: ---xr-x-wx
chmod 154: ---xr-xr--
chmod 155: ---xr-xr-x
chmod 156: ---xr-xrw-
chmod 157: ---xr-xrwx
chmod 160: ---xrw----
chmod 161: ---xrw---x
chmod 162: ---xrw--w-
chmod 163: ---xrw--wx
chmod 164: ---xrw-r--
chmod 165: ---xrw-r-x
chmod 166: ---xrw-rw-
chmod 167: ---xrw-rwx
chmod 170: ---xrwx---
chmod 171: ---xrwx--x
chmod 172: ---xrwx-w-
chmod 173: ---xrwx-wx
chmod 174: ---xrwxr--
chmod 175: ---xrwxr-x
chmod 176: ---xrwxrw-
chmod 177: ---xrwxrwx
chmod 200: --w-------
chmod 201: --w------x
chmod 202: --w-----w-
chmod 203: --w-----wx
chmod 204: --w----r--
chmod 205: --w----r-x
chmod 206: --w----rw-
chmod 207: --w----rwx
chmod 210: --w---x---
chmod 211: --w---x--x
chmod 212: --w---x-w-
chmod 213: --w---x-wx
chmod 214: --w---xr--
chmod 215: --w---xr-x
chmod 216: --w---xrw-
chmod 217: --w---xrwx
chmod 220: --w--w----
chmod 221: --w--w---x
chmod 222: --w--w--w-
chmod 223: --w--w--wx
chmod 224: --w--w-r--
chmod 225: --w--w-r-x
chmod 226: --w--w-rw-
chmod 227: --w--w-rwx
chmod 230: --w--wx---
chmod 231: --w--wx--x
chmod 232: --w--wx-w-
chmod 233: --w--wx-wx
chmod 234: --w--wxr--
chmod 235: --w--wxr-x
chmod 236: --w--wxrw-
chmod 237: --w--wxrwx
chmod 240: --w-r-----
chmod 241: --w-r----x
chmod 242: --w-r---w-
chmod 243: --w-r---wx
chmod 244: --w-r--r--
chmod 245: --w-r--r-x
chmod 246: --w-r--rw-
chmod 247: --w-r--rwx
chmod 250: --w-r-x---
chmod 251: --w-r-x--x
chmod 252: --w-r-x-w-
chmod 253: --w-r-x-wx
chmod 254: --w-r-xr--
chmod 255: --w-r-xr-x
chmod 256: --w-r-xrw-
chmod 257: --w-r-xrwx
chmod 260: --w-rw----
chmod 261: --w-rw---x
chmod 262: --w-rw--w-
chmod 263: --w-rw--wx
chmod 264: --w-rw-r--
chmod 265: --w-rw-r-x
chmod 266: --w-rw-rw-
chmod 267: --w-rw-rwx
chmod 270: --w-rwx---
chmod 271: --w-rwx--x
chmod 272: --w-rwx-w-
chmod 273: --w-rwx-wx
chmod 274: --w-rwxr--
chmod 275: --w-rwxr-x
chmod 276: --w-rwxrw-
chmod 277: --w-rwxrwx
chmod 300: --wx------
chmod 301: --wx-----x
chmod 302: --wx----w-
chmod 303: --wx----wx
chmod 304: --wx---r--
chmod 305: --wx---r-x
chmod 306: --wx---rw-
chmod 307: --wx---rwx
chmod 310: --wx--x---
chmod 311: --wx--x--x
chmod 312: --wx--x-w-
chmod 313: --wx--x-wx
chmod 314: --wx--xr--
chmod 315: --wx--xr-x
chmod 316: --wx--xrw-
chmod 317: --wx--xrwx
chmod 320: --wx-w----
chmod 321: --wx-w---x
chmod 322: --wx-w--w-
chmod 323: --wx-w--wx
chmod 324: --wx-w-r--
chmod 325: --wx-w-r-x
chmod 326: --wx-w-rw-
chmod 327: --wx-w-rwx
chmod 330: --wx-wx---
chmod 331: --wx-wx--x
chmod 332: --wx-wx-w-
chmod 333: --wx-wx-wx
chmod 334: --wx-wxr--
chmod 335: --wx-wxr-x
chmod 336: --wx-wxrw-
chmod 337: --wx-wxrwx
chmod 340: --wxr-----
chmod 341: --wxr----x
chmod 342: --wxr---w-
chmod 343: --wxr---wx
chmod 344: --wxr--r--
chmod 345: --wxr--r-x
chmod 346: --wxr--rw-
chmod 347: --wxr--rwx
chmod 350: --wxr-x---
chmod 351: --wxr-x--x
chmod 352: --wxr-x-w-
chmod 353: --wxr-x-wx
chmod 354: --wxr-xr--
chmod 355: --wxr-xr-x
chmod 356: --wxr-xrw-
chmod 357: --wxr-xrwx
chmod 360: --wxrw----
chmod 361: --wxrw---x
chmod 362: --wxrw--w-
chmod 363: --wxrw--wx
chmod 364: --wxrw-r--
chmod 365: --wxrw-r-x
chmod 366: --wxrw-rw-
chmod 367: --wxrw-rwx
chmod 370: --wxrwx---
chmod 371: --wxrwx--x
chmod 372: --wxrwx-w-
chmod 373: --wxrwx-wx
chmod 374: --wxrwxr--
chmod 375: --wxrwxr-x
chmod 376: --wxrwxrw-
chmod 377: --wxrwxrwx
chmod 400: -r--------
chmod 401: -r-------x
chmod 402: -r------w-
chmod 403: -r------wx
chmod 404: -r-----r--
chmod 405: -r-----r-x
chmod 406: -r-----rw-
chmod 407: -r-----rwx
chmod 410: -r----x---
chmod 411: -r----x--x
chmod 412: -r----x-w-
chmod 413: -r----x-wx
chmod 414: -r----xr--
chmod 415: -r----xr-x
chmod 416: -r----xrw-
chmod 417: -r----xrwx
chmod 420: -r---w----
chmod 421: -r---w---x
chmod 422: -r---w--w-
chmod 423: -r---w--wx
chmod 424: -r---w-r--
chmod 425: -r---w-r-x
chmod 426: -r---w-rw-
chmod 427: -r---w-rwx
chmod 430: -r---wx---
chmod 431: -r---wx--x
chmod 432: -r---wx-w-
chmod 433: -r---wx-wx
chmod 434: -r---wxr--
chmod 435: -r---wxr-x
chmod 436: -r---wxrw-
chmod 437: -r---wxrwx
chmod 440: -r--r-----
chmod 441: -r--r----x
chmod 442: -r--r---w-
chmod 443: -r--r---wx
chmod 444: -r--r--r--
chmod 445: -r--r--r-x
chmod 446: -r--r--rw-
chmod 447: -r--r--rwx
chmod 450: -r--r-x---
chmod 451: -r--r-x--x
chmod 452: -r--r-x-w-
chmod 453: -r--r-x-wx
chmod 454: -r--r-xr--
chmod 455: -r--r-xr-x
chmod 456: -r--r-xrw-
chmod 457: -r--r-xrwx
chmod 460: -r--rw----
chmod 461: -r--rw---x
chmod 462: -r--rw--w-
chmod 463: -r--rw--wx
chmod 464: -r--rw-r--
chmod 465: -r--rw-r-x
chmod 466: -r--rw-rw-
chmod 467: -r--rw-rwx
chmod 470: -r--rwx---
chmod 471: -r--rwx--x
chmod 472: -r--rwx-w-
chmod 473: -r--rwx-wx
chmod 474: -r--rwxr--
chmod 475: -r--rwxr-x
chmod 476: -r--rwxrw-
chmod 477: -r--rwxrwx
chmod 500: -r-x------
chmod 501: -r-x-----x
chmod 502: -r-x----w-
chmod 503: -r-x----wx
chmod 504: -r-x---r--
chmod 505: -r-x---r-x
chmod 506: -r-x---rw-
chmod 507: -r-x---rwx
chmod 510: -r-x--x---
chmod 511: -r-x--x--x
chmod 512: -r-x--x-w-
chmod 513: -r-x--x-wx
chmod 514: -r-x--xr--
chmod 515: -r-x--xr-x
chmod 516: -r-x--xrw-
chmod 517: -r-x--xrwx
chmod 520: -r-x-w----
chmod 521: -r-x-w---x
chmod 522: -r-x-w--w-
chmod 523: -r-x-w--wx
chmod 524: -r-x-w-r--
chmod 525: -r-x-w-r-x
chmod 526: -r-x-w-rw-
chmod 527: -r-x-w-rwx
chmod 530: -r-x-wx---
chmod 531: -r-x-wx--x
chmod 532: -r-x-wx-w-
chmod 533: -r-x-wx-wx
chmod 534: -r-x-wxr--
chmod 535: -r-x-wxr-x
chmod 536: -r-x-wxrw-
chmod 537: -r-x-wxrwx
chmod 540: -r-xr-----
chmod 541: -r-xr----x
chmod 542: -r-xr---w-
chmod 543: -r-xr---wx
chmod 544: -r-xr--r--
chmod 545: -r-xr--r-x
chmod 546: -r-xr--rw-
chmod 547: -r-xr--rwx
chmod 550: -r-xr-x---
chmod 551: -r-xr-x--x
chmod 552: -r-xr-x-w-
chmod 553: -r-xr-x-wx
chmod 554: -r-xr-xr--
chmod 555: -r-xr-xr-x
chmod 556: -r-xr-xrw-
chmod 557: -r-xr-xrwx
chmod 560: -r-xrw----
chmod 561: -r-xrw---x
chmod 562: -r-xrw--w-
chmod 563: -r-xrw--wx
chmod 564: -r-xrw-r--
chmod 565: -r-xrw-r-x
chmod 566: -r-xrw-rw-
chmod 567: -r-xrw-rwx
chmod 570: -r-xrwx---
chmod 571: -r-xrwx--x
chmod 572: -r-xrwx-w-
chmod 573: -r-xrwx-wx
chmod 574: -r-xrwxr--
chmod 575: -r-xrwxr-x
chmod 576: -r-xrwxrw-
chmod 577: -r-xrwxrwx
chmod 600: -rw-------
chmod 601: -rw------x
chmod 602: -rw-----w-
chmod 603: -rw-----wx
chmod 604: -rw----r--
chmod 605: -rw----r-x
chmod 606: -rw----rw-
chmod 607: -rw----rwx
chmod 610: -rw---x---
chmod 611: -rw---x--x
chmod 612: -rw---x-w-
chmod 613: -rw---x-wx
chmod 614: -rw---xr--
chmod 615: -rw---xr-x
chmod 616: -rw---xrw-
chmod 617: -rw---xrwx
chmod 620: -rw--w----
chmod 621: -rw--w---x
chmod 622: -rw--w--w-
chmod 623: -rw--w--wx
chmod 624: -rw--w-r--
chmod 625: -rw--w-r-x
chmod 626: -rw--w-rw-
chmod 627: -rw--w-rwx
chmod 630: -rw--wx---
chmod 631: -rw--wx--x
chmod 632: -rw--wx-w-
chmod 633: -rw--wx-wx
chmod 634: -rw--wxr--
chmod 635: -rw--wxr-x
chmod 636: -rw--wxrw-
chmod 637: -rw--wxrwx
chmod 640: -rw-r-----
chmod 641: -rw-r----x
chmod 642: -rw-r---w-
chmod 643: -rw-r---wx
chmod 644: -rw-r--r--
chmod 645: -rw-r--r-x
chmod 646: -rw-r--rw-
chmod 647: -rw-r--rwx
chmod 650: -rw-r-x---
chmod 651: -rw-r-x--x
chmod 652: -rw-r-x-w-
chmod 653: -rw-r-x-wx
chmod 654: -rw-r-xr--
chmod 655: -rw-r-xr-x
chmod 656: -rw-r-xrw-
chmod 657: -rw-r-xrwx
chmod 660: -rw-rw----
chmod 661: -rw-rw---x
chmod 662: -rw-rw--w-
chmod 663: -rw-rw--wx
chmod 664: -rw-rw-r--
chmod 665: -rw-rw-r-x
chmod 666: -rw-rw-rw-
chmod 667: -rw-rw-rwx
chmod 670: -rw-rwx---
chmod 671: -rw-rwx--x
chmod 672: -rw-rwx-w-
chmod 673: -rw-rwx-wx
chmod 674: -rw-rwxr--
chmod 675: -rw-rwxr-x
chmod 676: -rw-rwxrw-
chmod 677: -rw-rwxrwx
chmod 700: -rwx------
chmod 701: -rwx-----x
chmod 702: -rwx----w-
chmod 703: -rwx----wx
chmod 704: -rwx---r--
chmod 705: -rwx---r-x
chmod 706: -rwx---rw-
chmod 707: -rwx---rwx
chmod 710: -rwx--x---
chmod 711: -rwx--x--x
chmod 712: -rwx--x-w-
chmod 713: -rwx--x-wx
chmod 714: -rwx--xr--
chmod 715: -rwx--xr-x
chmod 716: -rwx--xrw-
chmod 717: -rwx--xrwx
chmod 720: -rwx-w----
chmod 721: -rwx-w---x
chmod 722: -rwx-w--w-
chmod 723: -rwx-w--wx
chmod 724: -rwx-w-r--
chmod 725: -rwx-w-r-x
chmod 726: -rwx-w-rw-
chmod 727: -rwx-w-rwx
chmod 730: -rwx-wx---
chmod 731: -rwx-wx--x
chmod 732: -rwx-wx-w-
chmod 733: -rwx-wx-wx
chmod 734: -rwx-wxr--
chmod 735: -rwx-wxr-x
chmod 736: -rwx-wxrw-
chmod 737: -rwx-wxrwx
chmod 740: -rwxr-----
chmod 741: -rwxr----x
chmod 742: -rwxr---w-
chmod 743: -rwxr---wx
chmod 744: -rwxr--r--
chmod 745: -rwxr--r-x
chmod 746: -rwxr--rw-
chmod 747: -rwxr--rwx
chmod 750: -rwxr-x---
chmod 751: -rwxr-x--x
chmod 752: -rwxr-x-w-
chmod 753: -rwxr-x-wx
chmod 754: -rwxr-xr--
chmod 755: -rwxr-xr-x
chmod 756: -rwxr-xrw-
chmod 757: -rwxr-xrwx
chmod 760: -rwxrw----
chmod 761: -rwxrw---x
chmod 762: -rwxrw--w-
chmod 763: -rwxrw--wx
chmod 764: -rwxrw-r--
chmod 765: -rwxrw-r-x
chmod 766: -rwxrw-rw-
chmod 767: -rwxrw-rwx
chmod 770: -rwxrwx---
chmod 771: -rwxrwx--x
chmod 772: -rwxrwx-w-
chmod 773: -rwxrwx-wx
chmod 774: -rwxrwxr--
chmod 775: -rwxrwxr-x
chmod 776: -rwxrwxrw-
chmod 777: -rwxrwxrwx

Congratulations!

Here's my custom stat function, which I am definately not finished with, so check back in a couple days and if you find any improvements please hook me up with a comment!

function askapache_stat( $filename ) {
$p=@fileperms($filename);
$s=@stat($filename);
$str='';
$t=decoct($s['mode'] & 0170000);
 
switch (octdec($t)) {
case 0140000: $str = 's'; $stat['type']='socket'; break;
case 0120000: $str = 'l'; $stat['type']='link'; break;
case 0100000: $str = '-'; $stat['type']='file'; break;
case 0060000: $str = 'b'; $stat['type']='block'; break;
case 0040000: $str = 'd'; $stat['type']='dir'; break;
case 0020000: $str = 'c'; $stat['type']='char'; break;
case 0010000: $str = 'p'; $stat['type']='fifo'; break;
default: $str = 'u'; $stat['type']='unknown'; break;
}
 
$stat['type_octal'] = sprintf("%07o", octdec($t));
 
$str .= (($p&0x0100)?'r':'-').(($p&0x0080)?'w':'-').(($p&0x0040)?(($p&0x0800)?'s':'x'):(($p&0x0800)?'S':'-'));
$str .= (($p&0x0020)?'r':'-').(($p&0x0010)?'w':'-').(($p&0x0008)?(($p&0x0400)?'s':'x'):(($p&0x0400)?'S':'-'));
$str .= (($p&0x0004)?'r':'-').(($p&0x0002)?'w':'-').(($p&0x0001)?(($p&0x0200)?'t':'x'):(($p&0x0200)?'T':'-'));
 
$stat['default_umask']=sprintf("%04o",umask());
$stat['perm_human']=$str;
$stat['perm_octal1'] = sprintf( "%o", ( $s['mode'] & 00777 ) );
$stat['perm_octal2'] = sprintf("0%o", 0777 & $p);
$stat['perm_dec'] = sprintf("%04o", $p);
$stat['perm_mode']=$s['mode'];   // File mode.
 
$stat['file'] = @realpath($filename);
$stat['basename'] = basename( $filename );
 
$stat['user_id'] = $s['uid'];
$stat['group_id'] = $s['gid'];
 
$stat['device']=$s['dev'];      // Device
$stat['device_number']=$s['rdev'];    // Device number, if device.
$stat['inode']=$s['ino'];      // File serial number
$stat['link_count']=$s['nlink'];    // link count
if($stat['type']=='link')$stat['link_to']=@readlink( $filename );
 
$stat['size']=$s['size'];    // Size of file, in bytes.
$stat['block_size']=$s['blksize'];  // Optimal block size for I/O.
$stat['blocks']=$s['blocks'];  // Number 512-byte blocks allocated
 
$stat['time_access']=@date( 'Y M D H:i:s',$s['atime']);    // Time of last access.
$stat['time_modified']=@date( 'Y M D H:i:s',$s['mtime']);    // Time of last modification
$stat['time_created']=@date( 'Y M D H:i:s',$s['ctime']);    // Time of last status change
 
clearstatcache();
return $stat;
}
 
header('Content-Type: text/plain');
$stat=askapache_stat(__FILE__);
print_r($stat);

Defining Permission Bits

!defined('S_IFMT') && define('S_IFMT', 0170000); //  mask for all types
!defined('S_IFSOCK') && define('S_IFSOCK', 0140000); // type: socket
!defined('S_IFLNK') && define('S_IFLNK', 0120000); // type:  symbolic link
!defined('S_IFREG') && define('S_IFREG', 0100000); // type:  regular file
!defined('S_IFBLK') && define('S_IFBLK', 0060000); // type:  block device
!defined('S_IFDIR') && define('S_IFDIR', 0040000); // type:  directory
!defined('S_IFCHR') && define('S_IFCHR', 0020000); // type:  character device
!defined('S_IFIFO') && define('S_IFIFO', 0010000); // type:  fifo
 
!defined('S_ISUID') && define('S_ISUID', 0004000); // set-uid bit
!defined('S_ISGID') && define('S_ISGID', 0002000); // set-gid bit
!defined('S_ISVTX') && define('S_ISVTX', 0001000); // sticky bit
!defined('S_IRWXU') && define('S_IRWXU', 00700); //  mask for owner permissions
!defined('S_IRUSR') && define('S_IRUSR', 00400); //  owner: read permission
!defined('S_IWUSR') && define('S_IWUSR', 00200); //  owner: write permission
!defined('S_IXUSR') && define('S_IXUSR', 00100); //  owner: execute permission
!defined('S_IRWXG') && define('S_IRWXG', 00070); //  mask for group permissions
!defined('S_IRGRP') && define('S_IRGRP', 00040); //  group: read permission
!defined('S_IWGRP') && define('S_IWGRP', 00020); //  group: write permission
!defined('S_IXGRP') && define('S_IXGRP', 00010); //  group: execute permission
!defined('S_IRWXO') && define('S_IRWXO', 00007); //  mask for others permissions
!defined('S_IROTH') && define('S_IROTH', 00004); //  others:  read permission
!defined('S_IWOTH') && define('S_IWOTH', 00002); //  others:  write permission
!defined('S_IXOTH') && define('S_IXOTH', 00001); //  others:  execute permission
 
!defined('S_IRWXUGO') && define('S_IRWXUGO', (S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO));
!defined('S_IALLUGO') && define('S_IALLUGO', (S_ISUID | S_ISGID | S_ISVTX | S_IRWXUGO));
!defined('S_IRUGO') && define('S_IRUGO', (S_IRUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH));
!defined('S_IWUGO') && define('S_IWUGO', (S_IWUSR | S_IWGRP | S_IWOTH));
!defined('S_IXUGO') && define('S_IXUGO', (S_IXUSR | S_IXGRP | S_IXOTH));
!defined('S_IRWUGO') && define('S_IRWUGO', (S_IRUGO | S_IWUGO));

How File Permissions Work

When PHP is installed on your server by you or whoever runs the server, it uses the file permissions that are used by the Operating System running the server.. If you are smart or just lucky than you are running some type of BSD/Unix/Solaris/Linux/Sun based Operating system and PHP won't have any problems. If you are running on a Locked, proprietary OS like Windows, PHP will still work but it has to use a lot of shortcuts and hacks to basically "Pretend" to act like the OS is BSD/Unix, and some key features just won't be available.

The OS Permission Bits

Here's the file permissions my Linux server uses, and which PHP automatically uses. The code basically just defines the default permissions for files, and defines the file atributes for each file that you can access by using the stat function, which I've improved upon to make things easier.

Download: POSIX Standard: 5.6 File Characteristicssys/stat.h

Protection bits for File Owner

#define S_IRWXU 00700
#define S_IRUSR 00400
#define S_IWUSR 00200
#define S_IXUSR 00100

Protection bits for File Group

#define S_IRWXG 00070
#define S_IRGRP 00040
#define S_IWGRP 00020
#define S_IXGRP 00010

Protection bits for All Others

#define S_IRWXO 00007
#define S_IROTH 00004
#define S_IWOTH 00002
#define S_IXOTH 00001

Some Example Permissions

0477 // owner has read only, other and group has rwx 0677 // owner has rw only, other and group has rwx

0444 // all have read only 0666 // all have rw only

0400 // owner has read only, group and others have no permission 0600 // owner has rw only, group and others have no permission

0470 // owner has read only, group has rwx, others have no permission 0407 // owner has read only, other has rwx, group has no permission

0670 // owner has rw only, group has rwx, others have no permission 0607 // owner has rw only, group has no permission and others have rwx

What's a File

A file is not merely its contents, a name, and a file type. A file also has an owner (a user ID), a group (a group ID), permissions (what the owner can do with the file, what people in the group can do, and what everyone else can do), various timestamps, and other information. Collectively, we call these a file's attributes.

Structure of File Mode Bits

The file mode bits have two parts: the file permission bits, which control ordinary access to the file, and special mode bits, which affect only some files.

There are three kinds of permissions that a user can have for a file:

permission to read the file. For directories, this means permission to list the contents of the directory.
permission to write to (change) the file. For directories, this means permission to create and remove files in the directory.
permission to execute the file (run it as a program). For directories, this means permission to access files in the directory.

There are three categories of users who may have different permissions to perform any of the above operations on a file:

the file's owner.
other users who are in the file's group
everyone else.

Files are given an owner and group when they are created. Usually the owner is the current user and the group is the group of the directory the file is in, but this varies with the operating system, the file system the file is created on, and the way the file is created. You can change the owner and group of a file by using the chown and chgrp commands.

In addition to the three sets of three permissions listed above, the file mode bits have three special components, which affect only executable files (programs) and, on most systems, directories:

Set the process's effective user ID to that of the file upon execution (called the set-user-ID bit, or sometimes the setuid bit). For directories on a few systems, give files created in the directory the same owner as the directory, no matter who creates them, and set the set-user-ID bit of newly-created subdirectories.
Set the process's effective group ID to that of the file upon execution (called the set-group-ID bit, or sometimes the setgid bit). For directories on most systems, give files created in the directory the same group as the directory, no matter what group the user who creates them is in, and set the set-group-ID bit of newly-created subdirectories.
Prevent unprivileged users from removing or renaming a file in a directory unless they own the file or the directory; this is called the restricted deletion flag for the directory, and is commonly found on world-writable directories like /tmp.

For regular files on some older systems, save the program's text image on the swap device so it will load more quickly when run; this is called the sticky bit.

Setting Permissions

The basic symbolic operations on a file's permissions are adding, removing, and setting the permission that certain users have to read, write, and execute or search the file. These operations have the following format:

users operation permissions

The spaces between the three parts above are shown for readability only; symbolic modes cannot contain spaces. The users part tells which users' access to the file is changed. It consists of one or more of the following letters (or it can be empty). When more than one of these letters is given, the order that they are in does not matter.

u - the user who owns the file.
g - other users who are in the file's group.
o - all other users.
a - all users; the same as ugo.

The operation part tells how to change the affected users' access to the file, and is one of the following symbols:

+ - to add the permissions to whatever permissions the users already have for the file.
- - to remove the permissions from whatever permissions the users already have for the file.
= - to make the permissions the only permissions that the users have for the file.

The permissions part tells what kind of access to the file should be changed; it is normally zero or more of the following letters. As with the users part, the order does not matter when more than one letter is given. Omitting the permissions part is useful only with the = operation, where it gives the specified users no access at all to the file.

r - the permission the users have to read the file.
w - the permission the users have to write to the file.
x - the permission the users have to execute the file, or search it if it is a directory.

For example, to give everyone permission to read and write a regular file, but not to execute it, use:

a=rw

To remove write permission for all users other than the file's owner, use:

go-w

The above command does not affect the access that the owner of the file has to it, nor does it affect whether other users can read or execute the file.

To give everyone except a file's owner no permission to do anything with that file, use the mode below. Other users could still remove the file, if they have write permission on the directory it is in.

go=

Another way to specify the same thing is:

og-rwx

Copying Existing Permissions

You can base a file's permissions on its existing permissions. To do this, instead of using a series of r, w, or x letters after the operator, you use the letter u, g, or o. For example, the mode

o+g

adds the permissions for users who are in a file's group to the permissions that other users have for the file. Thus, if the file started out as mode 664 (rw-rw-r--), the above mode would change it to mode 666 (rw-rw-rw-). If the file had started out as mode 741 (rwxr----x), the above mode would change it to mode 745 (rwxr--r-x). The - and = operations work analogously.

Umask and Protection

If the users part of a symbolic mode is omitted, it defaults to a (affect all users), except that any permissions that are set in the system variable umask are not affected. The value of umask can be set using the umask command. Its default value varies from system to system.

Omitting the users part of a symbolic mode is generally not useful with operations other than +. It is useful with + because it allows you to use umask as an easily customizable protection against giving away more permission to files than you intended to. As an example, if umask has the value 2, which removes write permission for users who are not in the file's group, then the mode:

+w

adds permission to write to the file to its owner and to other users who are in the file's group, but not to other users. In contrast, the mode:

a+w

ignores umask, and does give write permission for the file to all users.

Directories, Set-User-ID and Set-Group-ID Bits

On most systems, if a directory's set-group-ID bit is set, newly created subfiles inherit the same group as the directory, and newly created subdirectories inherit the set-group-ID bit of the parent directory. On a few systems, a directory's set-user-ID bit has a similar effect on the ownership of new subfiles and the set-user-ID bits of new subdirectories. These mechanisms let users share files more easily, by lessening the need to use chmod or chown to share new files.

These convenience mechanisms rely on the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits of directories. If commands like chmod and mkdir routinely cleared these bits on directories, the mechanisms would be less convenient and it would be harder to share files. Therefore, a command like chmod does not affect the set-user-ID or set-group-ID bits of a directory unless the user specifically mentions them in a symbolic mode, or sets them in a numeric mode. For example, on systems that support set-group-ID inheritance:

# These commands leave the set-user-ID and
# set-group-ID bits of the subdirectories alone,
# so that they retain their default values.
mkdir A B C
chmod 755 A
chmod 0755 B
chmod u=rwx,go=rx C
mkdir -m 755 D
mkdir -m 0755 E
mkdir -m u=rwx,go=rx F

If you want to try to set these bits, you must mention them explicitly in the symbolic or numeric modes, e.g.:

# These commands try to set the set-user-ID
# and set-group-ID bits of the subdirectories.
mkdir G H
chmod 6755 G
chmod u=rwx,go=rx,a+s H
mkdir -m 6755 I
mkdir -m u=rwx,go=rx,a+s J

If you want to try to clear these bits, you must mention them explicitly in a symbolic mode, e.g.:

# This command tries to clear the set-user-ID
# and set-group-ID bits of the directory D.
chmod a-s D

Numeric Modes

The permissions granted to the user, to other users in the file's group, and to other users not in the file's group each require three bits, which are represented as one octal digit. The three special mode bits also require one bit each, and they are as a group represented as another octal digit. Here is how the bits are arranged, starting with the lowest valued bit:

Other users not in the file's group:

1 Execute/search
2 Write
4 Read

Other users in the file's group:

10 Execute/search
20 Write
40 Read

The file's owner:

100 Execute/search
200 Write
400 Read

Special mode bits:

1000 Restricted deletion flag or sticky bit
2000 Set group ID on execution
4000 Set user ID on execution

For example, numeric mode 4755 corresponds to symbolic mode u=rwxs,go=rx, and numeric mode 664 corresponds to symbolic mode ug=rw,o=r. Numeric mode 0 corresponds to symbolic mode a=.

Apache's Internal Bits (hex)

#define APR_FPROT_USETID   0x8000 /* Set user id */
#define APR_FPROT_UREAD   0x0400 /* Read by user */
#define APR_FPROT_UWRITE   0x0200 /* Write by user */
#define APR_FPROT_UEXECUTE 0x0100 /* Execute by user */
 
#define APR_FPROT_GSETID   0x4000 /* Set group id */
#define APR_FPROT_GREAD   0x0040 /* Read by group */
#define APR_FPROT_GWRITE   0x0020 /* Write by group */
#define APR_FPROT_GEXECUTE 0x0010 /* Execute by group */
 
#define APR_FPROT_WSTICKY 0x2000 /* Sticky bit */
#define APR_FPROT_WREAD   0x0004 /* Read by others */
#define APR_FPROT_WWRITE 0x0002 /* Write by others */
#define APR_FPROT_WEXECUTE 0x0001 /* Execute by others */
 
#define APR_FPROT_OS_DEFAULT  0x0FFF /* use OS's default permissions */
 
/* additional permission flags for apr_file_copy  and apr_file_append */
#define APR_FPROT_FILE_SOURCE_PERMS 0x1000 /* Copy source file's permissions */

Download: httpd-2.2.10/srclib/apr/file_io/unix/fileacc.c Here's some interesting bitmasking done by Apache that uses the defined bits set earlier by stat.h

apr_unix_perms2mode(perms){
 mode=0;
 if (perms & APR_USETID) mode |= S_ISUID;
 if (perms & APR_UREAD)  mode |= S_IRUSR;
 if (perms & APR_UWRITE) mode |= S_IWUSR;
 if (perms & APR_UEXECUTE) mode |= S_IXUSR;
 
 if (perms & APR_GSETID) mode |= S_ISGID;
 if (perms & APR_GREAD)  mode |= S_IRGRP;
 if (perms & APR_GWRITE) mode |= S_IWGRP;
 if (perms & APR_GEXECUTE) mode |= S_IXGRP;
 
 if (perms & APR_WSTICKY) mode |= S_ISVTX;
 if (perms & APR_WREAD)  mode |= S_IROTH;
 if (perms & APR_WWRITE) mode |= S_IWOTH;
 if (perms & APR_WEXECUTE) mode |= S_IXOTH;
 return mode;
}
 
apr_unix_mode2perms(mode){
 perms = 0;
 if (mode & S_ISUID)perms |= APR_USETID;
 if (mode & S_IRUSR)perms |= APR_UREAD;
 if (mode & S_IWUSR)perms |= APR_UWRITE;
 if (mode & S_IXUSR)perms |= APR_UEXECUTE;
 
 if (mode & S_ISGID)perms |= APR_GSETID;
 if (mode & S_IRGRP)perms |= APR_GREAD;
 if (mode & S_IWGRP)perms |= APR_GWRITE;
 if (mode & S_IXGRP)perms |= APR_GEXECUTE;
 
 if (mode & S_ISVTX)perms |= APR_WSTICKY;
 if (mode & S_IROTH)perms |= APR_WREAD;
 if (mode & S_IWOTH)perms |= APR_WWRITE;
 if (mode & S_IXOTH)perms |= APR_WEXECUTE;
 return perms;
}

umask

umask(int mask){
 arg1;
 int oldumask;
 int arg_count = ZEND_NUM_ARGS();
 oldumask = umask(077);
 
 if (BG(umask) == -1) BG(umask) = oldumask;
 if (arg_count == 0) umask(oldumask);
 
 convert_to_long_ex(arg1);
 umask(Z_LVAL_PP(arg1));
 RETURN_LONG(oldumask);
}

File Attributes

Each file will have attributes based on the type of OS.. Using the stat command you can view them.

Viewing stat results

* %a - Access rights in octal
* %A - Access rights in human readable form
* %b - Number of blocks allocated (see %B)
* %B - The size in bytes of each block reported by %b
* %d - Device number in decimal
* %D - Device number in hex
* %f - Raw mode in hex
* %F - File type
* %g - Group ID of owner
* %G - Group name of owner
* %h - Number of hard links
* %i - Inode number
* %n - File name
* %N - Quoted file name with dereference if symbolic link
* %o - I/O block size
* %s - Total size, in bytes
* %t - Major device type in hex
* %T - Minor device type in hex
* %u - User ID of owner
* %U - User name of owner
* %x - Time of last access
* %X - Time of last access as seconds since Epoch
* %y - Time of last modification
* %Y - Time of last modification as seconds since Epoch
* %z - Time of last change
* %Z - Time of last change as seconds since Epoch

The OS Attribute Bits

These defined values are what allows your operating system to determine the type of file being accessed.

#define S_IFMT   00170000  /* These bits determine file type. */
#define S_IFSOCK 0140000  /* Socket file */
#define S_IFLNK   0120000  /* Symbolic Link */
#define S_IFREG   0100000  /* Regular file */
#define S_IFDIR   0040000  /* Directory */
#define S_IFIFO  0010000   /* FIFO first-in-first-out file */
 
/* Such devices can be read either a character at a time or a "block" (many characters) at a time,
hence we say there are block special files and character special files. */
#define S_IFBLK   0060000  /* Block device */
#define S_IFCHR  0020000  /* Character device */

Special Permission Bits

#define S_ISUID  0004000  /* Set user ID on execution.  */
#define S_ISGID  0002000  /* Set group ID on execution.  */
#define S_ISVTX  0001000 /* Save swapped text after use (sticky).  */

Bitmasking to determine Filetype

#define S_ISLNK(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFLNK)
#define S_ISREG(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFREG)
#define S_ISDIR(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFDIR)
#define S_ISCHR(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFCHR)
#define S_ISBLK(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFBLK)
#define S_ISFIFO(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFIFO)
#define S_ISSOCK(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFSOCK)

Default Permission Masks

#define S_IRWXUGO (S_IRWXU|S_IRWXG|S_IRWXO)
#define S_IALLUGO (S_ISUID|S_ISGID|S_ISVTX|S_IRWXUGO)
#define S_IRUGO  (S_IRUSR|S_IRGRP|S_IROTH)
#define S_IWUGO  (S_IWUSR|S_IWGRP|S_IWOTH)
#define S_IXUGO  (S_IXUSR|S_IXGRP|S_IXOTH)

Download: httpd-2.2.10/srclib/apr/file_io/unix/filestat.c, this file shows a simple way to determine the type of file.

filetype_from_mode(mode){
 type;
 switch (mode & S_IFMT) {
  case S_IFREG:  type = APR_REG;  break;
  case S_IFDIR:  type = APR_DIR;  break;
  case S_IFLNK:  type = APR_LNK;  break;
 
  case S_IFCHR:  type = APR_CHR;  break;
  case S_IFBLK:  type = APR_BLK;  break;
  case S_IFFIFO: type = APR_PIPE; break;
  case S_IFSOCK: type = APR_SOCK; break;
  default: type = APR_UNKFILE;
 }
 return type;
}

Apache Stat Bits

#define APR_FINFO_LINK  0x00000001 /* Stat the link not the file itself if it is a link */
#define APR_FINFO_MTIME  0x00000010 /* Modification Time */
#define APR_FINFO_CTIME  0x00000020 /* Creation or inode-changed time */
#define APR_FINFO_ATIME  0x00000040 /* Access Time */
#define APR_FINFO_SIZE  0x00000100 /* Size of the file */
#define APR_FINFO_CSIZE  0x00000200 /* Storage size consumed by the file */
#define APR_FINFO_DEV  0x00001000 /* Device */
#define APR_FINFO_INODE  0x00002000 /* Inode */
#define APR_FINFO_NLINK  0x00004000 /* Number of links */
#define APR_FINFO_TYPE  0x00008000 /* Type */
#define APR_FINFO_USER  0x00010000 /* User */
#define APR_FINFO_GROUP  0x00020000 /* Group */
#define APR_FINFO_UPROT  0x00100000 /* User protection bits */
#define APR_FINFO_GPROT  0x00200000 /* Group protection bits */
#define APR_FINFO_WPROT  0x00400000 /* World protection bits */
#define APR_FINFO_ICASE  0x01000000 /* if dev is case insensitive */
#define APR_FINFO_NAME  0x02000000 /* name in proper case */
#define APR_FINFO_MIN  0x00008170 /* type, mtime, ctime, atime, size */
#define APR_FINFO_IDENT  0x00003000 /* dev and inode */
#define APR_FINFO_OWNER  0x00030000 /* user and group */
#define APR_FINFO_PROT  0x00700000 /* all protections */
#define APR_FINFO_NORM  0x0073b170 /* an atomic unix apr_stat() */
#define APR_FINFO_DIRENT 0x02000000 /* an atomic unix apr_dir_read() */

The Apache file information structure.

apr_uid_t user;  /* The user id that owns the file */
apr_gid_t group;  /* The group id that owns the file */
apr_ino_t inode; /* The inode of the file. */
apr_dev_t device; /* The id of the device the file is on. */
apr_int32_t nlink; /* The number of hard links to the file. */
apr_off_t size;  /* The size of the file */
apr_off_t csize; /* The storage size consumed by the file */
apr_time_t atime; /* The time the file was last accessed */
apr_time_t mtime; /* The time the file was last modified */
apr_time_t ctime; /* The time the file was created, or the inode was last changed */
const char *fname; /* The pathname of the file (possibly unrooted) */
const char *name; /* The file's name (no path) in filesystem case */

File Time Attributes

touch
If changing both the access and modification times to the current time, touch can change the timestamps for files that the user running it does not own but has write permission for. Otherwise, the user must own the files.

Although touch provides options for changing two of the times the times of last access and modification of a file, there is actually a third one as well: the inode change time. This is often referred to as a file's ctime. The inode change time represents the time when the file's meta-information last changed. One common example of this is when the permissions of a file change. Changing the permissions doesn't access the file, so the atime doesn't change, nor does it modify the file, so the mtime doesn't change. Yet, something about the file itself has changed, and this must be noted somewhere. This is the job of the ctime field. This is necessary, so that, for example, a backup program can make a fresh copy of the file, including the new permissions value. Another operation that modifies a file's ctime without affecting the others is renaming. In any case, it is not possible, in normal operations, for a user to change the ctime field to a user-specified value.

WebHost allows you to create multiple users per account. Each user can have domain assigned to its home home directory accessible via FTP or SSH/SCP. The problem with multiple users on the same account is that they share the same default unix group, and default permissions allow their files to be easily modified by the members of this group. Usually this doesn't pose a problem as each user is probably trusted by account owner to not to mess with others files, but if one of the users have their web application hacked then all other users on the same account will be in danger.

By default all files in your account are created with 644 privileges and directories are with 775. That means any user can read your files and any user from the same account can move and add files in your freshly made directories. Your home directory is different, though. By default it carries 751 attribute meaning that only members of your group can see your files, but can't add any new. These group access schemes are possible, because every user in your account has its primary/default group set to "pgxxxxxx", which is assigned to every new file you create by default. The normal way to secure users from web-intrusion is to assign a separate group to the web-server user, removing it from default group. This way, exploited scripts will not be able to traverse into home directories of other users on your account. To allow account users to update centralized web-site they could be added to web-site group explicitly. But this "normal way" doesn't work with DreamHost, because you can't delete web-user from the default group and unless you set access for every new file explicitly, it will be possible for an intruder to read it.

To make managing privileges easier in interactive sessions "umask 007" command can be specified in your .bash_profile - this makes all new files carry xx0 mask. You also need to control your scripts (web based or cron/shell) so that they set mask for critical files explicitly. To secure account users from access by means of hacked user script you would also like to define another group for every user in your account and change group ownership of the user's home directory to that group with "set gid" bit set (and optional umask 007 in .bash_profile).

Therefore, to secure your users from web-intrusion you need to:

Add a separate user and group for every domain where apache will be running
Add a separate group for other user accounts
Change the default group for new files created by your users by changing the group of their home directory and setting "set gid" bit for it (it is impossible to do this with FTP accounts, therefore you will need to login in each account via SSH)
Add users who need access to web-site into the web-user group
Optionally set umask 007 in .bash_profile for every user to tweak default WebHost775/664 permissions to something like 770/660 for directories and files that are not meant to be read by Apache (660 could also be used for all web scripts including .php as they are not read by dhapache CGI, but merely executed)

Apache Security

All your web files that need to be read by Apache should be readable by everyone as Apache itself is run under dhapache user. However, executable scripts like .php are executed under your own user and do not have to be world readable as they are not actually read by Apache, but executed via suEXEC. Quite the opposite - to prevent your code or database settings from being messed by any third-parties you SHOULD set permissions to these files explicitly to something like 640 or even 600 depending on who do you trust.

Multiuser security setup example

For our example, we will create a rainforce_www user and a aapp_www group for serving web files with apache and setup a rainforce user with a 'aapp group to manage mail and keep other files on DH privately. Since these records already exist, you will need to subsitute your own names.

Login to create the users rainforce_www and rainforce with shell access.
Create two groups - aapp_www and aapp. Note that users created in previous step are still members of the same default pgxxxxxx group.
Add rainforce_www to 'the 'aapp_www group and rainforce to both the aapp_www and aapp groups
Move your domain to rainforce_www account (mine is rainforce.org)
Now login to SSH with your rainforce_www user and change the default group for your home directory with "sgid" bit set to make all current and new files/directories created in this directory have the same aapp_www group.

 $ chgrp -R aapp_www .
 $ chmod 2751 .
 $ chmod 2771 rainforce.org

By setting 2771 the directory will be writable by the owner, the group and will be only executable by others. The contents of an executable only directory cannot be listed, but the files inside it can be read (if the permissions of the file allow it). It is important that the directory can be executable in order to allow static content (e.g. .html files) inside it to be read. Remember that directories you don't want anyone to have web access to, should be 0770 (writable by the owner and group, or 0750 writable by the owner and readable by group). Such strict permissions should by applied to password files, php include files or databases files (such as SQLite, BDB, etc).

Do the same for rainforce user, but specify aapp group instead.

 $ chgrp -R aapp .
 $ chmod 2751 .

Optionally modify umask in .bash_profile in user's home to 007 to make all files created by this user have 660 permissions set by default. If you want that newly created files by accessible by the web, you need to manually setup it's permissions to 664.

Now I can login as the user "rainforce" and update the web-site in the ../rainforce_www/rainforce.org directory. There is one more setup needed. Because files copied from other accounts can have 644 permissions set instead of 664, you need a script which will update permissions to 664 or 660 to allow other group members modify such files.

SSH key fingerprints

Just gen your own I guess

External Links

Original Article from DreamHost Wiki

Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2.

Example File Permission Bits

`/usr/lib/w3m/cgi-bin/dirlist.cgi`

sub utype {
  local($_) = @_;
  local(%T) = (
    0010000, 'PIPE',
    0020000, 'CHR',
    0040000, 'DIR',
    0060000, 'BLK',
    0100000, 'FILE',
    0120000, 'LINK',
    0140000, 'SOCK',
  );
  return $T{($_ & 0170000)} || 'FILE';
}
 
sub umode {
  local($_) = @_;
  local(%T) = (
    0010000, 'p',
    0020000, 'c',
    0040000, 'd',
    0060000, 'b',
    0100000, '-',
    0120000, 'l',
    0140000, 's',
  );
 
  return ($T{($_ & 0170000)} || '-')
     . (($_ & 00400) ? 'r' : '-')
     . (($_ & 00200) ? 'w' : '-')
     . (($_ & 04000) ? 's' :
       (($_ & 00100) ? 'x' : '-'))
     . (($_ & 00040) ? 'r' : '-')
     . (($_ & 00020) ? 'w' : '-')
     . (($_ & 02000) ? 's' :
       (($_ & 00010) ? 'x' : '-'))
     . (($_ & 00004) ? 'r' : '-')
     . (($_ & 00002) ? 'w' : '-')
     . (($_ & 01000) ? 't' :
       (($_ & 00001) ? 'x' : '-'));
}

`/usr/lib/perl/5.8.4/linux/stat.ph`

        eval 'sub S_IFMT () {00170000;}' unless defined(&S_IFMT);
        eval 'sub S_IFSOCK () {0140000;}' unless defined(&S_IFSOCK);
        eval 'sub S_IFLNK () {0120000;}' unless defined(&S_IFLNK);
        eval 'sub S_IFREG () {0100000;}' unless defined(&S_IFREG);
        eval 'sub S_IFBLK () {0060000;}' unless defined(&S_IFBLK);
        eval 'sub S_IFDIR () {0040000;}' unless defined(&S_IFDIR);
        eval 'sub S_IFCHR () {0020000;}' unless defined(&S_IFCHR);
        eval 'sub S_IFIFO () {0010000;}' unless defined(&S_IFIFO);
        eval 'sub S_ISUID () {0004000;}' unless defined(&S_ISUID);
        eval 'sub S_ISGID () {0002000;}' unless defined(&S_ISGID);
        eval 'sub S_ISVTX () {0001000;}' unless defined(&S_ISVTX);
        eval 'sub S_ISLNK {
            local($m) = @_;
            eval q(((($m) &  &S_IFMT) ==  &S_IFLNK));
        }' unless defined(&S_ISLNK);
        eval 'sub S_ISREG {
            local($m) = @_;
            eval q(((($m) &  &S_IFMT) ==  &S_IFREG));
        }' unless defined(&S_ISREG);
        eval 'sub S_ISDIR {
            local($m) = @_;
            eval q(((($m) &  &S_IFMT) ==  &S_IFDIR));
        }' unless defined(&S_ISDIR);
        eval 'sub S_ISCHR {
            local($m) = @_;
            eval q(((($m) &  &S_IFMT) ==  &S_IFCHR));
        }' unless defined(&S_ISCHR);
        eval 'sub S_ISBLK {
            local($m) = @_;
            eval q(((($m) &  &S_IFMT) ==  &S_IFBLK));
        }' unless defined(&S_ISBLK);
        eval 'sub S_ISFIFO {
            local($m) = @_;
            eval q(((($m) &  &S_IFMT) ==  &S_IFIFO));
        }' unless defined(&S_ISFIFO);
        eval 'sub S_ISSOCK {
            local($m) = @_;
            eval q(((($m) &  &S_IFMT) ==  &S_IFSOCK));
        }' unless defined(&S_ISSOCK);
        eval 'sub S_IRWXU () {00700;}' unless defined(&S_IRWXU);
        eval 'sub S_IRUSR () {00400;}' unless defined(&S_IRUSR);
        eval 'sub S_IWUSR () {00200;}' unless defined(&S_IWUSR);
        eval 'sub S_IXUSR () {00100;}' unless defined(&S_IXUSR);
        eval 'sub S_IRWXG () {00070;}' unless defined(&S_IRWXG);
        eval 'sub S_IRGRP () {00040;}' unless defined(&S_IRGRP);
        eval 'sub S_IWGRP () {00020;}' unless defined(&S_IWGRP);
        eval 'sub S_IXGRP () {00010;}' unless defined(&S_IXGRP);
        eval 'sub S_IRWXO () {00007;}' unless defined(&S_IRWXO);
        eval 'sub S_IROTH () {00004;}' unless defined(&S_IROTH);
        eval 'sub S_IWOTH () {00002;}' unless defined(&S_IWOTH);
        eval 'sub S_IXOTH () {00001;}' unless defined(&S_IXOTH);
    }
    if(defined(&__KERNEL__)) {
        eval 'sub S_IRWXUGO () {( &S_IRWXU| &S_IRWXG| &S_IRWXO);}' unless defined(&S_IRWXUGO);
        eval 'sub S_IALLUGO () {( &S_ISUID| &S_ISGID| &S_ISVTX| &S_IRWXUGO);}' unless defined(&S_IALLUGO);
        eval 'sub S_IRUGO () {( &S_IRUSR| &S_IRGRP| &S_IROTH);}' unless defined(&S_IRUGO);
        eval 'sub S_IWUGO () {( &S_IWUSR| &S_IWGRP| &S_IWOTH);}' unless defined(&S_IWUGO);
        eval 'sub S_IXUGO () {( &S_IXUSR| &S_IXGRP| &S_IXOTH);}' unless defined(&S_IXUGO);
        require 'linux/types.ph';
        require 'linux/time.ph';
    }

Mozilla-Source 1.8a2

/* notice that these valuse are octal. */
const PERM_IRWXU = 00700;  /* read, write, execute/search by owner */
const PERM_IRUSR = 00400;  /* read permission, owner */
const PERM_IWUSR = 00200;  /* write permission, owner */
const PERM_IXUSR = 00100;  /* execute/search permission, owner */
const PERM_IRWXG = 00070;  /* read, write, execute/search by group */
const PERM_IRGRP = 00040;  /* read permission, group */
const PERM_IWGRP = 00020;  /* write permission, group */
const PERM_IXGRP = 00010;  /* execute/search permission, group */
const PERM_IRWXO = 00007;  /* read, write, execute/search by others */
const PERM_IROTH = 00004;  /* read permission, others */
const PERM_IWOTH = 00002;  /* write permission, others */
const PERM_IXOTH = 00001;  /* execute/search permission, others */
 
const MODE_RDONLY   = 0x01;
const MODE_WRONLY   = 0x02;
const MODE_RDWR     = 0x04;
const MODE_CREATE   = 0x08;
const MODE_APPEND   = 0x10;
const MODE_TRUNCATE = 0x20;
const MODE_SYNC     = 0x40;
const MODE_EXCL     = 0x80;

`/usr/include/libpng12/png.h`

/* Transform masks for the high-level interface */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_IDENTITY       0x0000    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_16       0x0001    /* read only */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_ALPHA    0x0002    /* read only */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_PACKING        0x0004    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_PACKSWAP       0x0008    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_EXPAND         0x0010    /* read only */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_INVERT_MONO    0x0020    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_SHIFT          0x0040    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_BGR            0x0080    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_SWAP_ALPHA     0x0100    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_SWAP_ENDIAN    0x0200    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_INVERT_ALPHA   0x0400    /* read and write */
#define PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_FILLER   0x0800    /* WRITE only */

`/usr/lib/python2.4/stat.py`

# Extract bits from the mode
 
def S_IMODE(mode):
    return mode & 07777
 
def S_IFMT(mode):
    return mode & 0170000
 
# Constants used as S_IFMT() for various file types
# (not all are implemented on all systems)
 
S_IFDIR  = 0040000
S_IFCHR  = 0020000
S_IFBLK  = 0060000
S_IFREG  = 0100000
S_IFIFO  = 0010000
S_IFLNK  = 0120000
S_IFSOCK = 0140000
 
# Functions to test for each file type
 
def S_ISDIR(mode):
    return S_IFMT(mode) == S_IFDIR
 
def S_ISCHR(mode):
    return S_IFMT(mode) == S_IFCHR
 
def S_ISBLK(mode):
    return S_IFMT(mode) == S_IFBLK
 
def S_ISREG(mode):
    return S_IFMT(mode) == S_IFREG
 
def S_ISFIFO(mode):
    return S_IFMT(mode) == S_IFIFO
 
def S_ISLNK(mode):
    return S_IFMT(mode) == S_IFLNK
 
def S_ISSOCK(mode):
    return S_IFMT(mode) == S_IFSOCK
 
# Names for permission bits
 
S_ISUID = 04000
S_ISGID = 02000
S_ENFMT = S_ISGID
S_ISVTX = 01000
S_IREAD = 00400
S_IWRITE = 00200
S_IEXEC = 00100
S_IRWXU = 00700
S_IRUSR = 00400
S_IWUSR = 00200
S_IXUSR = 00100
S_IRWXG = 00070
S_IRGRP = 00040
S_IWGRP = 00020
S_IXGRP = 00010
S_IRWXO = 00007
S_IROTH = 00004
S_IWOTH = 00002
S_IXOTH = 00001

`/usr/include/bits/stat.h`

/* Encoding of the file mode.  */
 
#define __S_IFMT        0170000 /* These bits determine file type.  */
 
/* File types.  */
#define __S_IFDIR       0040000 /* Directory.  */
#define __S_IFCHR       0020000 /* Character device.  */
#define __S_IFBLK       0060000 /* Block device.  */
#define __S_IFREG       0100000 /* Regular file.  */
#define __S_IFIFO       0010000 /* FIFO.  */
#define __S_IFLNK       0120000 /* Symbolic link.  */
#define __S_IFSOCK      0140000 /* Socket.  */
 
/* POSIX.1b objects.  Note that these macros always evaluate to zero.  But
   they do it by enforcing the correct use of the macros.  */
#define __S_TYPEISMQ(buf)  ((buf)->st_mode - (buf)->st_mode)
#define __S_TYPEISSEM(buf) ((buf)->st_mode - (buf)->st_mode)
#define __S_TYPEISSHM(buf) ((buf)->st_mode - (buf)->st_mode)
 
/* Protection bits.  */
 
#define __S_ISUID       04000   /* Set user ID on execution.  */
#define __S_ISGID       02000   /* Set group ID on execution.  */
#define __S_ISVTX       01000   /* Save swapped text after use (sticky).  */
#define __S_IREAD       0400    /* Read by owner.  */
#define __S_IWRITE      0200    /* Write by owner.  */
#define __S_IEXEC       0100    /* Execute by owner.  */

`/usr/include/linux/nfs.h`

#define NFS_FIFO_DEV    (-1)
#define NFSMODE_FMT     0170000
#define NFSMODE_DIR     0040000
#define NFSMODE_CHR     0020000
#define NFSMODE_BLK     0060000
#define NFSMODE_REG     0100000
#define NFSMODE_LNK     0120000
#define NFSMODE_SOCK    0140000
#define NFSMODE_FIFO    0010000

`/usr/include/linux/nfs3.h`

#define NFS3_FIFO_DEV           (-1)
#define NFS3MODE_FMT            0170000
#define NFS3MODE_DIR            0040000
#define NFS3MODE_CHR            0020000
#define NFS3MODE_BLK            0060000
#define NFS3MODE_REG            0100000
#define NFS3MODE_LNK            0120000
#define NFS3MODE_SOCK           0140000
#define NFS3MODE_FIFO           0010000
 
/* Flags for access() call */
#define NFS3_ACCESS_READ        0x0001
#define NFS3_ACCESS_LOOKUP      0x0002
#define NFS3_ACCESS_MODIFY      0x0004
#define NFS3_ACCESS_EXTEND      0x0008
#define NFS3_ACCESS_DELETE      0x0010
#define NFS3_ACCESS_EXECUTE     0x0020
#define NFS3_ACCESS_FULL        0x003f

`/usr/include/linux/stat.h`

#define S_IFMT  00170000
#define S_IFSOCK 0140000
#define S_IFLNK  0120000
#define S_IFREG  0100000
#define S_IFBLK  0060000
#define S_IFDIR  0040000
#define S_IFCHR  0020000
#define S_IFIFO  0010000
#define S_ISUID  0004000
#define S_ISGID  0002000
#define S_ISVTX  0001000
 
#define S_ISLNK(m)      (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFLNK)
#define S_ISREG(m)      (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFREG)
#define S_ISDIR(m)      (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFDIR)
#define S_ISCHR(m)      (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFCHR)
#define S_ISBLK(m)      (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFBLK)
#define S_ISFIFO(m)     (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFIFO)
#define S_ISSOCK(m)     (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFSOCK)
 
#define S_IRWXU 00700
#define S_IRUSR 00400
#define S_IWUSR 00200
#define S_IXUSR 00100
 
#define S_IRWXG 00070
#define S_IRGRP 00040
#define S_IWGRP 00020
#define S_IXGRP 00010
 
#define S_IRWXO 00007
#define S_IROTH 00004
#define S_IWOTH 00002
#define S_IXOTH 00001

Further File Permissions Reading

Related PHP Functions

Special file types

link invocation: Make a hard link via the link syscall
ln invocation: Make links between files
mkdir invocation: Make directories
mkfifo invocation: Make FIFOs (named pipes)
mknod invocation: Make block or character special files
readlink invocation: Print the referent of a symbolic link
rmdir invocation: Remove empty directories
unlink invocation: Remove files via unlink syscall

Changing file attributes

chown invocation: Change file owner and group
chgrp invocation: Change group ownership
chmod invocation: Change access permissions
touch invocation: Change file timestamps

Chmod, Umask, Stat, Fileperms, and File Permissions originally appeared on AskApache.com

HOWTO: Uninstall CPANEL over SSH

AskApache — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:55:40 +0000

AskApache.com

WARNING! This is for advanced users of the shell, this is NOT a howto or tutorial. The thing is, I googled how to uninstall cpanel and for once in my life I came up empty.. And certainly the cpanel official sites themselves don't provide any instructions other than to say "Dont uninstall it, reinstall your entire operating system without it.".. they sure don't seem confident that they know exactly what their code is doing. Cpanel is great for most people, perfect for many situations, so don't get me wrong.. this is just for fun.

Why Uninstall?

Why? Because I have always built my servers, php installations, perl installs, ruby, iptables, everything from source. I read the INSTALL/README docs, I read the man pages, and I read the info pages as well. I google for configuration advice, I google for tips, and I don't need a web-based perl script messing my stuff up!

The main problems I had with cpanel, which really is a great bit of software for millions of website developers, is that it was incredibly sneaky! I used it for about 6 months and spent that entire time trying to figure out what the heck it was doing. A couple issues that I really disliked, it takes over your bind install, it takes over your apache install, it takes over your php install. And although it does let you configure some things (very few) for custom configurations and the like, I just don't need any of that. By removing the darn thing I am saving GIGS of space on my server, tons of bandwidth, and most importantly to me I am saving CPU and processing time along with RAM and IO speed.

Anything Else

Please.. I could go on for DAYS! Another reason I have wanted to be rid of cpanel is that I like my servers to be as lean and mean as possible. This means I like as few files and processes as possible. There are many benefits to this, like it's much easier for my integrity checking software and rootkit/antivirus software to run and drastically reduces the false positives. And there is that glaring security issue of constantly having cpanel run it's own software to create the WHM/Cpanel web interface, which is accessible online. I haven't researched cpanel security at all, it's possible that it never has security problems that are published, but for me, why take the chance?

Warning - Caution!

The following is just a quick reference of some of the commands I used to uninstall cpanel. This is for advanced users of the shell. If you aren't that advanced and you run a single one of these commands without fully understanding it, you will probably kill your server, probably lose everything on it permanently, probably not have a website or email for weeks.. So backup all your data FIRST. Also, if you aren't 100% sure you won't run into problems, you should contact your hosts technical support - but be prepared for some MAJOR negativity.. cpanel makes things very easy for hosts, and the last thing tech support wants is to fix a server broken by someone who doesn't know what they are doing.

Last Warning!

Unless you understand what theses commands do and the purpose they serve, do not try any of this. These are not the exact commands I used verbatim, they are also not in order. I only put them up here because I was so amazed that google didn't have any uninstall cpanel intructions. Hopefully it's not a conspiracy that will get my site taken down.. ;)

That said and out of the way, it really only took me about 10 minutes to uninstall cpanel completely. But keep in mind I have been closely monitoring and debugging cpanel for 6 months, so I knew what I was doing. And finally, I do apologize for not having better instructions.. but hey, if you don't get this then you have no business trying to figure out how to uninstall cpanel! It's great software and shouldn't be removed unless you are fully capable of managing email/dns/www/ftp and any/all other servers and services on your machine by hand.

Do This First

I have a few drafts I'm working on at the moment with specifics, but for now you will have to figure it out with google. Basically you want to make sure you don't totally knock your machine offline without being able to reconnect. What I do is compile a static version of openssh and a few other security-type shell tools, and configure this binary sshd to run by using inittab, which is the file run by init (pid 1) and makes sure if it dies it is restarted. Here is my /etc/inittab to run the static sshd binary:

hh:12345:respawn:/failover/os/sbin/aassh -D -q -u0 -f /failover/os/etc/aassh

Another trick is to keep a detached screen logged in to root. That way if you mess up your sudoers or securetty or pam or whatever, you can just reattach and fix it.

Finally, you may want to setup your syslog to start earlier than usual, and set up more than normal verbosity. ( I take it to the max ). Then you should setup a 2nd server or machine somewhere to act as a syslog server. Lastly, configure your web server syslog to copy all messages to the remote syslog you set up. I use a reverse ssh tunnel to encrypt the syslog packets, but when I do something serious like reboot after uninstalling cpanel, I prepare for it by adding additional networking routes on my machine to make sure I will get some logs even if sshd cant start or even if my network addresses aren't brought up correctly.

If that sounds easy to you, please continue. If you are saying: Wha??? Continue in read-only mode.

Also, you can't just uninstall cpanel, I have replaced a lot of cpanel already, like building my own bind, apache, php, syslog and making sure they work and aren't being tampered with by cpanel. Basically cpanel runs everything on your server in most cases, so you should prepare by creating your own static software to replace cpanel, and make sure it works.

Find files Accessing /var/cpanel

More than likely these will need to be killed.

lsof +w -Rg -nP +c15 -x f +D /var/cpanel
lsof +w -Rg -nP +c15 -x f +D /usr/local/cpanel

Killing cpanel

Just an example, your machine may have a lot more than these, I have been slowly taking control of my machine back from cpanel for 6 months, so it was easier for me.

for P in tailwatchd queueprocd cpanellogd exim; do pkill -9 $P; done

Commands and Shortcuts

alias NF='nice find $PWD -mount -depth ! -type d'
alias NFF='nice find $PWD -mount -depth ! -type d | xargs -IF87 file F87'
alias NA='nice find $PWD -mount -depth'
alias NAF='nice find $PWD -mount -depth | xargs -IF87 file F87'

Watch out for crontab

An example of the sneakiness (from my POV, from most it's called builtin robustness) that cpanel does is automagically adding crontab entries that make it behave similarly to a self-propagating virus. If you don't disable the cronjobs and kill the right processes within a short period of time, be prepared for a magic resurrection.

Here's my awesome crontab information function, you will need to check every file, it lists the default crons on my box, and every users crontab, but it can't account for other cron software like at and other crons.

function askapache_crontab()
{
  local GG i;
  for i in `getent passwd|cut -d ":" -f1`;
  do
    GG=$(sudo crontab -u $i -l 2>$N6 | tr -s '\n\000' | sed '/^#/d');
    [[ ${#GG} -gt 3 ]] && sleep 1 && echo -e "$i \n\n${GG}"
  done;
   sleep 4;
   ls -aLls1ch --color=always /etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly,d} | sed '/^total/d; /\ drwxr-xr-x/d';
}

grep -ir /var/spool cpan

#6 3 * * * /scripts/upcp
#0 1 * * * /scripts/cpbackup
#0 2 * * * /scripts/mailman_chown_archives
#35 * * * * /usr/bin/test -x /usr/local/cpanel/bin/tail-check && /usr/local/cpanel/bin/tail-check
#11,26,41,56 * * * * /usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/bin/dnsqueue > /dev/null 2>&1
#30 */4 * * * /usr/bin/test -x /scripts/update_db_cache && /scripts/update_db_cache
#45 */8 * * * /usr/bin/test -x /usr/local/cpanel/bin/optimizefs && /usr/local/cpanel/bin/optimizefs
#*/5 * * * * /usr/local/cpanel/bin/dcpumon >/dev/null 2>&1
#25 1 * * * /usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/docroot/cgi/cpaddons_report.pl --notify

Delete Crontabs

sudo crontab -u mailman -r

Find INIT scripts with cpanel

This is the main startup script: /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startup

I had no idea ruby-on-rails was being controlled by cpanel.. sneaky bugger. You can tell by all of these advanced unix commands just how difficult it would be to uninstall cpanel, its totally like the Alien!

(1:3744)# find . ! -type d -print0|xargs -0 -I'F87' grep -Hi "cpan\|tailwat\|chkser" F87
./fastmail:# Author:       cPanel, Inc. 
./httpd:        HTTPD=/usr/local/cpanel/bin/chroothttpd
./cpanel:# cpanel8       Start Cpanel Services
./cpanel:# Author:       cPanel, Inc. 
./cpanel:# description: This is the cpanel webserver and chat.
./cpanel:# processname: cpaneld
./cpanel:# pidfile: /var/run/cpanel.pid
./cpanel:[ -f /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startup ] || exit 0
./cpanel:       if [ -f "/var/cpanel/smtpgidonlytweak" ]; then
./cpanel:       echo -n "Starting cPanel services: "
./cpanel:       daemon /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startcpsrvd
./cpanel:       echo -n "Starting cPanel brute force detector services: "
./cpanel:       daemon /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startcphulkd
./cpanel:    echo -n "Starting cPanel dav services: "
./cpanel:       daemon /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startcpdavd
./cpanel:               daemon /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startcppop
./cpanel:       echo -n "Starting cPanel Chat services: "
./cpanel:               daemon /usr/local/cpanel/entropychat/entropychat
./cpanel:               daemon /usr/local/cpanel/bin/startmelange
./cpanel:                       /usr/local/cpanel/bin/startinterchange
./cpanel:       echo -n "Starting cPanel ssl services: "
./cpanel:       daemon /usr/local/cpanel/startstunnel
./cpanel:    echo -n "Starting cPanel Queue services: "
./cpanel:       daemon /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startqueueprocd
./cpanel:    echo -n "Starting tailwatchd: "
./cpanel:    daemon /usr/local/cpanel/libexec/tailwatchd --start
./cpanel:       echo -n "Starting cPanel Log services: "
./cpanel:       daemon /usr/local/cpanel/cpanellogd
./cpanel:    action "Starting mailman services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startmailman
./cpanel:    action "Stopping tailwatchd: " /usr/local/cpanel/libexec/tailwatchd --stop
./cpanel:    action "Stopping cPanel services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stopcpsrvd
./cpanel:       action "Stopping cPanel dav services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stopcpdavd
./cpanel:       action "Stopping cPanel queue services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stopqueueprocd
./cpanel:       action "Stopping cPanel brute force detector services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stopcphulkd
./cpanel:               action "Stopping pop3 services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stopcppop
./cpanel:       echo -n "Stopping cPanel log services: "
./cpanel:       killproc cpanellogd
./cpanel:       echo -n "Stopping cPanel Chat services: "
./cpanel:       action "Stopping cPanel ssl services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stopstunnel
./cpanel:       action "Stopping mailman services: " /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stopmailman
./cpanel:       if [ -e "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/mailmanctl" ]; then
./exim:if [ -e "/etc/chkserv.d" ]; then
./exim:        for file in `ls /etc/chkserv.d`
./exim:            if [ ! -e "/usr/local/cpanel/libexec/tailwatchd" ]; then
./exim:    if [ -x "/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startspamd" ]; then
./exim:        /usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/startspamd
./exim:        if [ ! -e "/usr/local/cpanel/libexec/tailwatchd" ]; then
./ror:  /usr/local/cpanel/bin/rormgr --startboot
./ror:  /usr/local/cpanel/bin/rormgr --stopall
./ror:  /usr/local/cpanel/bin/rormgr --stopall
./ror:  /usr/local/cpanel/bin/rormgr --startboot
./ror:  /usr/local/cpanel/bin/rormgr --statusall
./securetmp:# Author:       cPanel, Inc.

Turn off cpanel services

You should remove the below delete command and start by just disabling the inits by turning them off. Then reboot. Then delete. If your machine won't reboot, I told you so, Cpanel told you so, and likely your host told you so.

for S in cpanel ror securetmp fastmail exim; do R=$(command chkconfig --level 123456 $S off ||echo); R=$(command chkconfig --del $S ||echo); done

HTTPD

If you are running chrooted httpd then you'll need to make sure you don't delete your entire webserver on accident. Here's a relevant part from the /etc/init.d/httpd script.

# the path to your httpd binary, including options if necessary
if [ -e "/etc/chroothttpd" ]; then
        HTTPD=/usr/local/cpanel/bin/chroothttpd
else
        HTTPD=/usr/local/apache/bin/httpd
fi

Finding files owned by cpanel

Some super cool bash commands in this post.. let's start with one to find all the files and folders on your machine owned by cpanel. Check your /etc/passwd file for your machines specific usernames and groups. This command saves all the filenames to ~/cpanel-files-backup.txt, which is used by tar next to create a backup of all of them.

{ find / -mount -depth -maxdepth 150 \( -group cpanel -o   -group cpanel-phpmyadmin -o -group cpanel-phppgadmin   -o -group cpanelphpmyadmin   -o -group cpanelphppgadmin   -o -group cpanelhorde   -o -group cpanelroundcube \) -print; find / -mount -depth -maxdepth 150 \( -user cpanel -o   -user cpanel-phpmyadmin -o -user cpanel-phppgadmin   -o -user cpanelphpmyadmin   -o -user cpanelphppgadmin   -o -user cpanelhorde   -o -user cpanelroundcube \) -print; } > ~/cpanel-files-backup.txt

Here's another way to search directories.

 grep --color=always -Hir cpanel /var

Create the Backup

Note that you must have the latest version of tar for this exact command, also you should backup /var/cpanel and /usr/local/cpanel and /etc and heck the whole machine why dontcha!

tar -T ~/cpanel-files-backup.txt -cvz --checkpoint=1000 --checkpoint-action="ttyout=\rHit %s checkpoint #%u" -f /cpanel-files-backup.tgz --totals

Remove Files

Once you do this your upstream without a paddle, you better make sure you know what you're doing with this. This removes all those files.

cat ~/cpanel-files-backup.txt | xargs -I'F87' rm -vfr F87

Additionally you will want to remove /usr/local/cpanel and /var/cpanel - What I always do when running as root is alias my rm command to instead simply move the files to a .trash folder. That way if something goes bork you have a better chance at fixing it.

Find Group-Owned Files

find / -mount -depth -maxdepth 150 \
\(  -group cpanel -o \
  -group cpanel-phpmyadmin \
  -o -group cpanel-phppgadmin \
  -o -group cpanelphpmyadmin \
  -o -group cpanelphppgadmin \
  -o -group mailman \
  -o -group cpanelhorde \
  -o -group cpanelroundcube \
\) -fprintf /root/cpanel-group-files.log '%#8k %#5m %11M %#10u:%-10g %-5U:%-5G %p %f %Y %F\n'

Find User-Owned Files

find / -mount -depth -maxdepth 150 \(
  -user cpanel \
  -o -user cpanel-phpmyadmin \
  -o -user cpanel-phppgadmin \
  -o -user cpanelphpmyadmin \
  -o -user cpanelphppgadmin \
  -o -user mailman \
  -o -user cpanelhorde \
  -o -user cpanelroundcube
\) -fprintf /root/cpanel-users-files.log '%#8k %#5m %11M %#10u:%-10g %-5U:%-5G %p %f %Y %F\n'

       4  0755  drwxr-xr-x     cpanel:cpanel     32002:32004 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel cpanel d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanel-phpmyadmin:cpanel-phpmyadmin 32005:32007 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel-phpmyadmin/tmp tmp d reiserfs
       4  0644  -rw-r--r-- cpanel-phpmyadmin:cpanel-phpmyadmin 32005:32007 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel-phpmyadmin/.cpanel/caches/featurelists/default.cache default.cache f reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanel-phpmyadmin:cpanel-phpmyadmin 32005:32007 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel-phpmyadmin/.cpanel/caches/featurelists featurelists d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanel-phpmyadmin:cpanel-phpmyadmin 32005:32007 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel-phpmyadmin/.cpanel/caches caches d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanel-phpmyadmin:cpanel-phpmyadmin 32005:32007 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel-phpmyadmin/.cpanel .cpanel d reiserfs
       4  0750  drwxr-x--- cpanel-phpmyadmin:cpanel-phpmyadmin 32005:32007 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel-phpmyadmin/mail mail d reiserfs
       4  0711  drwx--x--x cpanel-phpmyadmin:cpanel-phpmyadmin 32005:32007 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanel-phpmyadmin cpanel-phpmyadmin d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanelphppgadmin:cpanelphppgadmin 32009:32011 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelphppgadmin/sessions sessions d reiserfs
       4  0644  -rw-r--r-- cpanelphppgadmin:cpanelphppgadmin 32009:32011 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelphppgadmin/.cpanel/caches/featurelists/default.cache default.cache f reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanelphppgadmin:cpanelphppgadmin 32009:32011 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelphppgadmin/.cpanel/caches/featurelists featurelists d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanelphppgadmin:cpanelphppgadmin 32009:32011 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelphppgadmin/.cpanel/caches caches d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanelphppgadmin:cpanelphppgadmin 32009:32011 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelphppgadmin/.cpanel .cpanel d reiserfs
       4  0750  drwxr-x--- cpanelphppgadmin:cpanelphppgadmin 32009:32011 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelphppgadmin/mail mail d reiserfs
       4  0711  drwx--x--x cpanelphppgadmin:cpanelphppgadmin 32009:32011 /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelphppgadmin cpanelphppgadmin d reiserfs
       4  0750  drwxr-x--- cpanelroundcube:cpanelroundcube 514  :514   /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelroundcube/mail mail d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanelroundcube:cpanelroundcube 514  :514   /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelroundcube/sessions sessions d reiserfs
       4  0711  drwx--x--x cpanelroundcube:cpanelroundcube 514  :514   /var/cpanel/userhomes/cpanelroundcube cpanelroundcube d reiserfs
       4  0644  -rw-r--r--     cpanel:cpanel     32002:32004 /var/cpanel/.cpanel/caches/featurelists/default.cache default.cache f reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------     cpanel:cpanel     32002:32004 /var/cpanel/.cpanel/caches/featurelists featurelists d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------     cpanel:cpanel     32002:32004 /var/cpanel/.cpanel/caches caches d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------     cpanel:cpanel     32002:32004 /var/cpanel/.cpanel .cpanel d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanelroundcube:cpanelroundcube 514  :514   /var/cpanel/roundcube/tmp tmp d reiserfs
       4  0700  drwx------ cpanelroundcube:cpanelroundcube 514  :514   /var/cpanel/roundcube/log log d reiserfs

Find Permissions

cat ~/cpanel-group-files.log ~/cpanel-users-files.log |tr -s '\000 \t'|cut -d' ' -f3|sort -u

Find files tailwatchd

(1:3732)# $NICE find ${1:-`pwd`} -mount -name '*tailwatch*'
/usr/local/cpanel/libexec/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/libexec/tailwatch
/usr/local/cpanel/libexec/tailwatch/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/freebsd/tailwatchd.sh
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/trustix/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/centos/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/suse/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/caos/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/whitebox/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/mandrake/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/debian/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/redhat/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/scripts/fedora/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/stoptailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/init/starttailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/bin/tailwatchd
/usr/local/cpanel/logs/tailwatchd_log
/var/log/cpanel/tailwatchd_log
/var/cpanel/log_rotation/cp_tailwatchd_log.cpanellogd
/var/cpanel/tailwatch.positions
/var/run/tailwatchd.pid
/etc/chkserv.d/tailwatchd
/scripts/restartsrv_tailwatchd

Delete cpanel Users/Groups

for U in cpanel-phpmyadmin cpanel-phppgadmin cpanelphpmyadmin cpanelphppgadmin cpanelhorde cpanelroundcube machbuild; do userdel -fr $U; groupdel $U; done

Check for broken symlinks

find / -mount -depth -type l -print0 |xargs -0 -P0 -I'F87' file -s 'F87' | sed -n '/: broken symbolic link to/p'

Especially check /etc

$ find /etc -mount -depth -type l -print0 |xargs -0 -P0 -I'F87' file -s 'F87' | sed -n '/: broken symbolic link to/p'
/etc/ftpd-rsa.pem                   broken symbolic link to `/var/cpanel/ssl/ftp/ftpd-rsa.pem'
/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K10chkservd         broken symbolic link to `../init.d/chkservd'
/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K30antirelayd       broken symbolic link to `../init.d/antirelayd'
/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K80dcc              broken symbolic link to `../init.d/dcc'
/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/K80dcc              broken symbolic link to `../init.d/dcc'
/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S80chkservd         broken symbolic link to `../init.d/chkservd'
/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S80antirelayd       broken symbolic link to `../init.d/antirelayd'
/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K10chkservd         broken symbolic link to `../init.d/chkservd'
/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K30antirelayd       broken symbolic link to `../init.d/antirelayd'
/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K80dcc              broken symbolic link to `../init.d/dcc'
/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/K80dcc              broken symbolic link to `../init.d/dcc'
/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S80chkservd         broken symbolic link to `../init.d/chkservd'
/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S80antirelayd       broken symbolic link to `../init.d/antirelayd'
/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/K80dcc              broken symbolic link to `../init.d/dcc'
/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/S80chkservd         broken symbolic link to `../init.d/chkservd'
/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/S80antirelayd       broken symbolic link to `../init.d/antirelayd'
/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/K80dcc              broken symbolic link to `../init.d/dcc'
/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/S80chkservd         broken symbolic link to `../init.d/chkservd'
/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/S80antirelayd       broken symbolic link to `../init.d/antirelayd'
/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K10chkservd         broken symbolic link to `../init.d/chkservd'
/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K30antirelayd       broken symbolic link to `../init.d/antirelayd'
/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K80dcc              broken symbolic link to `../init.d/dcc'
/etc/authlib/authProg               broken symbolic link to `/usr/local/cpanel/bin/courier-auth'

And delete if you are sure

find /etc -mount -depth -type l -print0 |xargs -0 -P0 -I'F87' file -s 'F87' | sed -n '/: broken symbolic link to/p' |cut -d' ' -f1|xargs -I'F87' rm -rvf 'F87'

Reinstall CSF

The only thing I actually used that came with cpanel is the CSF/LFD Firewall package, which is a fantastic piece of software. I had to reinstall this, and to get it working without cpanel add the following line to the csf.conf

GENERIC = "1"

Thats It

Now once you've cleaned up everything, you should try everything conceivable to get an error before rebooting. Like you should start and stop every service in /etc/init.d/, you should use telinit to check various runlevels (which keeps your sshd connection still live). Go all out, should take at least a full hour.

Another thing I like to do is rebuild alot of my source-built software again in case anything got messed up. I upgrade perl from cpanels 5.8.8 to 5.10, which is pretty thorough, and you know, reinstall anything else I think I might need. One of the benefits of compiling your own software is all I have to do is cd to the source directory and type make -B && ( { make test || make check || make checks || make tests; } || echo ) && sudo make install and that's it. The tests/checks are optional of course.

If anyone actually ever reads this and does it, please share your advice here.. everybody knows we need it! Good Luck

HOWTO: Uninstall CPANEL over SSH originally appeared on AskApache.com

PHP Session File Hacks

AskApache — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:09 +0000

AskApache.com

If you want to learn best tricks and tips, there's only one way to do it... at least only one way that I know of. Here are some notes I created while learning about the intricacies of php sessions, it's all in the code.

[Session]
; Handler used to store/retrieve data.
session.save_handler = files

Argument passed to save_handler. In the case of files, this is the path where data files are stored. As of PHP 4.0.1, you can define the path as:

session.save_path = "N;/path"

where N is an integer. Instead of storing all the session files in /path, what this will do is use subdirectories N-levels deep, and store the session data in those directories. This is useful if you or your OS have problems with lots of files in one directory, and is a more efficient layout for servers that handle lots of sessions.

;
; NOTE 1: PHP will not create this directory structure automatically.
;         You can use the script in the ext/session dir for that purpose.
; NOTE 2: See the section on garbage collection below if you choose to
;         use subdirectories for session storage
;
; The file storage module creates files using mode 600 by default.
; You can change that by using
;
;     session.save_path = "N;MODE;/path"
;
; where MODE is the octal representation of the mode. Note that this
; does not overwrite the process's umask.
;session.save_path = "/tmp"

session.c

/* {{{ PHP_INI
 */
PHP_INI_BEGIN()
        STD_PHP_INI_BOOLEAN("session.bug_compat_42",    "1",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateBool,   bug_compat,         php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_BOOLEAN("session.bug_compat_warn",  "1",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateBool,   bug_compat_warn,    php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.save_path",          "",          PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateSaveDir,save_path,          php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.name",               "PHPSESSID", PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateString, session_name,       php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.save_handler",           "files",     PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateSaveHandler)
        STD_PHP_INI_BOOLEAN("session.auto_start",       "0",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateBool,   auto_start,         php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.gc_probability",     "1",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    gc_probability,     php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.gc_divisor",         "100",       PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    gc_divisor,        php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.gc_maxlifetime",     "1440",      PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    gc_maxlifetime,     php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.serialize_handler",      "php",       PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateSerializer)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.cookie_lifetime",    "0",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    cookie_lifetime,    php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.cookie_path",        "/",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateString, cookie_path,        php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.cookie_domain",      "",          PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateString, cookie_domain,      php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_BOOLEAN("session.cookie_secure",    "",          PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateBool,   cookie_secure,      php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_BOOLEAN("session.cookie_httponly",  "",          PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateBool,   cookie_httponly,    php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_BOOLEAN("session.use_cookies",      "1",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateBool,   use_cookies,        php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_BOOLEAN("session.use_only_cookies", "0",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateBool,   use_only_cookies,   php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.referer_check",      "",          PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateString, extern_referer_chk, php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.entropy_file",       "",          PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateString, entropy_file,       php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.entropy_length",     "0",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    entropy_length,     php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.cache_limiter",      "nocache",   PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateString, cache_limiter,      php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.cache_expire",       "180",       PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    cache_expire,       php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.use_trans_sid",          "0",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateTransSid)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.hash_function",      "0",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    hash_func,          php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
        STD_PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.hash_bits_per_character",      "4",         PHP_INI_ALL, OnUpdateLong,    hash_bits_per_character,          php_ps_globals,    ps_globals)
 
        /* Commented out until future discussion */
        /* PHP_INI_ENTRY("session.encode_sources", "globals,track", PHP_INI_ALL, NULL) */
PHP_INI_END()
/* }}} */

Session Errors

The session id contains illegal characters, valid characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and '-,'
fcntl(%d, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) failed: %s (%d)
open(%s, O_RDWR) failed: %s (%d)
ps_files_cleanup_dir: opendir(%s) failed: %s (%d)
read failed: %s (%d)
read returned less bytes than requested
write failed: %s (%d)
write wrote less bytes than requested
mm_malloc failed, avail %d, err %s
cannot allocate new data segment
Skipping numeric key %ld.
A session is active. You cannot change the session module's ini settings at this time.
Cannot find save handler %s
Cannot find serialization handler %s
Unknown session.serialize_handler. Failed to encode session object.
Cannot encode non-existent session.
Unknown session.serialize_handler. Failed to decode session object.
Failed to decode session object. Session has been destroyed.
Invalid session hash function
The ini setting hash_bits_per_character is out of range (should be 4, 5, or 6) - using 4 for now
No storage module chosen - failed to initialize session.
Failed to initialize storage module: %s (path: %s)
The session bug compatibility code will not
Your script possibly relies on a session side-effect which existed until PHP 4.2.3. Please be advised that the session extension does not consider global variables as a source of data, unless register_globals is enabled. You can disable this functionality and this warning by setting session.bug_compat_42 or session.bug_compat_warn to off, respectively.
Failed to write session data (%s). Please
Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at %s:%d)
Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent
Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at %s:%d)
Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent
Cannot find save handler %s
Cannot find unknown save handler
purged %d expired session objects
Trying to destroy uninitialized session
Session object destruction failed
Cannot find named PHP session module (%s)
Argument %d is not a valid callback
Cannot regenerate session id - headers already sent
Session object destruction failed

PS_GC_FUNC(files)
{
        PS_FILES_DATA;
 
        /* we don't perform any cleanup, if dirdepth is larger than 0.
           we return SUCCESS, since all cleanup should be handled by
           an external entity (i.e. find -ctime x | xargs rm) */
 
        if (data->dirdepth == 0) {
                *nrdels = ps_files_cleanup_dir(data->basedir, maxlifetime TSRMLS_CC);
        }
 
        return SUCCESS;
}

mod_files.c

/* If you change the logic here, please also update the error message in
 * ps_files_open() appropriately */
static int ps_files_valid_key(const char *key)
{
        size_t len;
        const char *p;
        char c;
        int ret = 1;
 
        for (p = key; (c = *p); p++) {
                /* valid characters are a..z,A..Z,0..9 */
                if (!((c >= 'a' && c <= 'z')
                                || (c >= 'A' && c <= 'Z')
                                || (c >= '0' && c <= '9')
                                || c == ','
                                || c == '-')) {
                        ret = 0;
                        break;
                }
        }
 
        len = p - key;
 
        if (len == 0) {
                ret = 0;
        }
 
        return ret;
}

static int ps_files_cleanup_dir(const char *dirname, int maxlifetime TSRMLS_DC)
{
        DIR *dir;
        char dentry[sizeof(struct dirent) + MAXPATHLEN];
        struct dirent *entry = (struct dirent *) &dentry;
        struct stat sbuf;
        char buf[MAXPATHLEN];
        time_t now;
        int nrdels = 0;
        size_t dirname_len;
 
        dir = opendir(dirname);
        if (!dir) {
                php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_NOTICE, "ps_files_cleanup_dir: opendir(%s) failed: %s (%d)", dirname, strerror(errno), errno);
                return (0);
        }
 
        time(&now);
 
        dirname_len = strlen(dirname);
 
        /* Prepare buffer (dirname never changes) */
        memcpy(buf, dirname, dirname_len);
        buf[dirname_len] = PHP_DIR_SEPARATOR;
 
        while (php_readdir_r(dir, (struct dirent *) dentry, &entry) == 0 && entry) {
                /* does the file start with our prefix? */
                if (!strncmp(entry->d_name, FILE_PREFIX, sizeof(FILE_PREFIX) - 1)) {
                        size_t entry_len = strlen(entry->d_name);
 
                        /* does it fit into our buffer? */
                        if (entry_len + dirname_len + 2 < MAXPATHLEN) {
                                /* create the full path.. */
                                memcpy(buf + dirname_len + 1, entry->d_name, entry_len);
 
                                /* NUL terminate it and */
                                buf[dirname_len + entry_len + 1] = '\0';
 
                                /* check whether its last access was more than maxlifet ago */
                                if (VCWD_STAT(buf, &sbuf) == 0 &&
#ifdef NETWARE
                                                (now - sbuf.st_mtime.tv_sec) > maxlifetime) {
#else
                                                (now - sbuf.st_mtime) > maxlifetime) {
#endif
                                        VCWD_UNLINK(buf);
                                        nrdels++;
                                }
                        }
                }
        }
 
        closedir(dir);
 
        return (nrdels);
}

ext/session/mod_files.c

#define PS_FILES_DATA ps_files *data = PS_GET_MOD_DATA()
 
PS_OPEN_FUNC(files)
{
        ps_files *data;
        const char *p, *last;
        const char *argv[3];
        int argc = 0;
        size_t dirdepth = 0;
        int filemode = 0600;
 
        if (*save_path == '\0') {
                /* if save path is an empty string, determine the temporary dir */
                save_path = php_get_temporary_directory();
 
                if (strcmp(save_path, "/tmp")) {
                        if (PG(safe_mode) && (!php_checkuid(save_path, NULL, CHECKUID_CHECK_FILE_AND_DIR))) {
                                return FAILURE;
                        }
                        if (php_check_open_basedir(save_path TSRMLS_CC)) {
                                return FAILURE;
                        }
                }
        }
 
        /* split up input parameter */
        last = save_path;
        p = strchr(save_path, ';');
        while (p) {
                argv[argc++] = last;
                last = ++p;
                p = strchr(p, ';');
                if (argc > 2) break;
        }
        argv[argc++] = last;
 
        if (argc > 1) {
                errno = 0;
                dirdepth = (size_t) strtol(argv[0], NULL, 10);
                if (errno == ERANGE) {
                        php_error(E_WARNING, "The first parameter in session.save_path is invalid");
                        return FAILURE;
                }
        }
 
        if (argc > 2) {
                errno = 0;
                filemode = strtol(argv[1], NULL, 8);
                if (errno == ERANGE || filemode < 0 || filemode > 07777) {
                        php_error(E_WARNING, "The second parameter in session.save_path is invalid");
                        return FAILURE;
                }
        }
        save_path = argv[argc - 1];
 
        data = emalloc(sizeof(*data));
        memset(data, 0, sizeof(*data));
 
        data->fd = -1;
        data->dirdepth = dirdepth;
        data->filemode = filemode;
        data->basedir_len = strlen(save_path);
        data->basedir = estrndup(save_path, data->basedir_len);
 
        PS_SET_MOD_DATA(data);
 
        return SUCCESS;
}

[PHP 5.2.0 session.save_path safe_mode and open_basedir bypass]
 
Author: Maksymilian Arciemowicz (SecurityReason)
Date:
- - Written: 02.10.2006
- - Public: 08.12.2006
SecurityAlert Id: 43
CVE: CVE-2006-6383
SecurityRisk: High
Affected Software: PHP 5.2.0
Advisory URL: http://securityreason.com/achievement_securityalert/43
Vendor: http://www.php.net
 
- --- 0.Description ---
PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from
C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The
goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated
pages quickly.
 
A nice introduction to PHP by Stig Sather Bakken can be found at
http://www.zend.com/zend/art/intro.php on the Zend website. Also, much  of the
PHP Conference Material is freely available.
 
Session support in PHP consists of a way to preserve certain data across
subsequent accesses. This enables you to build more customized applications and
increase the appeal of your web site.
 
A visitor accessing your web site is assigned a unique id, the so-called
session id. This is either stored in a cookie on the user side or is propagated
in the URL.
 
session.save_path defines the argument which is passed to the save handler. If
you choose the default files handler, this is the path where the files are
created. Defaults to /tmp. See also session_save_path().
 
There is an optional N argument to this directive that determines the number of
directory levels your session files will be spread around in. For example,
setting to '5;/tmp' may end up creating a session file and location like
/tmp/4/b/1/e/3/sess_4b1e384ad74619bd212e236e52a5a174If . In order to use N you
must create all of these directories before use. A small shell script exists in
ext/session to do this, it's called mod_files.sh. Also note that if N is used
and greater than 0 then automatic garbage collection will not be performed, see
a copy of php.ini for further information. Also, if you use N, be sure to
surround session.save_path in "quotes" because the separator (;) is also used
for comments in php.ini.
 
- --- 1. session.save_path safe mode and open basedir bypass ---
session.save_path can be set in ini_set(), session_save_path() function. In
session.save_path there must be path where you will save yours tmp file. But
syntax for session.save_path can be:
 
[/PATH]
 
OR
 
[N;/PATH]
 
N - can be a string.
 
EXAMPLES:
 
1. session_save_path("/DIR/WHERE/YOU/HAVE/ACCESS")
2. session_save_path("5;/DIR/WHERE/YOU/HAVE/ACCESS")
 
and
 
3.
session_save_path("/DIR/WHERE/YOU/DONT/HAVE/ACCESS\0;/DIR/WHERE/YOU/HAVE/ACCESS")

CACHE_LIMITER_FUNC(public)
{
        char buf[MAX_STR + 1];
        struct timeval tv;
        time_t now;
 
        gettimeofday(&tv, NULL);
        now = tv.tv_sec + PS(cache_expire) * 60;
#define EXPIRES "Expires: "
        memcpy(buf, EXPIRES, sizeof(EXPIRES) - 1);
        strcpy_gmt(buf + sizeof(EXPIRES) - 1, &now);
        ADD_HEADER(buf);
 
        snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf) , "Cache-Control: public, max-age=%ld", PS(cache_expire) * 60); /* SAFE */
        ADD_HEADER(buf);
 
        last_modified(TSRMLS_C);
}
 
CACHE_LIMITER_FUNC(private_no_expire)
{
        char buf[MAX_STR + 1];
 
        snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "Cache-Control: private, max-age=%ld, pre-check=%ld", PS(cache_expire) * 60, PS(cache_expire) * 60); /* SAFE */
        ADD_HEADER(buf);
 
        last_modified(TSRMLS_C);
}
 
CACHE_LIMITER_FUNC(private)
{
        ADD_HEADER("Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT");
        CACHE_LIMITER(private_no_expire)(TSRMLS_C);
}
 
CACHE_LIMITER_FUNC(nocache)
{
        ADD_HEADER("Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT");
        /* For HTTP/1.1 conforming clients and the rest (MSIE 5) */
        ADD_HEADER("Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
        /* For HTTP/1.0 conforming clients */
        ADD_HEADER("Pragma: no-cache");
}
 
static php_session_cache_limiter_t php_session_cache_limiters[] = {
        CACHE_LIMITER_ENTRY(public)
        CACHE_LIMITER_ENTRY(private)
        CACHE_LIMITER_ENTRY(private_no_expire)
        CACHE_LIMITER_ENTRY(nocache)
        {0}
};
 
static int php_session_cache_limiter(TSRMLS_D)
{
        php_session_cache_limiter_t *lim;
 
        if (PS(cache_limiter)[0] == '\0') return 0;
 
        if (SG(headers_sent)) {
                char *output_start_filename = php_get_output_start_filename(TSRMLS_C);
                int output_start_lineno = php_get_output_start_lineno(TSRMLS_C);
 
                if (output_start_filename) {
                        php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at %s:%d)",
                                output_start_filename, output_start_lineno);
                } else {
                        php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent");
                }
                return -2;
        }
 
        for (lim = php_session_cache_limiters; lim->name; lim++) {
                if (!strcasecmp(lim->name, PS(cache_limiter))) {
                        lim->func(TSRMLS_C);
                        return 0;
                }
        }
 
        return -1;
}

static void php_session_send_cookie(TSRMLS_D)
{
        smart_str ncookie = {0};
        char *date_fmt = NULL;
        char *e_session_name, *e_id;
 
        if (SG(headers_sent)) {
                char *output_start_filename = php_get_output_start_filename(TSRMLS_C);
                int output_start_lineno = php_get_output_start_lineno(TSRMLS_C);
 
                if (output_start_filename) {
                        php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at %s:%d)",
                                output_start_filename, output_start_lineno);
                } else {
                        php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent");
                }
                return;
        }
 
        /* URL encode session_name and id because they might be user supplied */
        e_session_name = php_url_encode(PS(session_name), strlen(PS(session_name)), NULL);
        e_id = php_url_encode(PS(id), strlen(PS(id)), NULL);
 
        smart_str_appends(&ncookie, COOKIE_SET_COOKIE);
        smart_str_appends(&ncookie, e_session_name);
        smart_str_appendc(&ncookie, '=');
        smart_str_appends(&ncookie, e_id);
 
        efree(e_session_name);
        efree(e_id);
 
        if (PS(cookie_lifetime) > 0) {
                struct timeval tv;
                time_t t;
 
                gettimeofday(&tv, NULL);
                t = tv.tv_sec + PS(cookie_lifetime);
 
                if (t > 0) {
                        date_fmt = php_std_date(t TSRMLS_CC);
                        smart_str_appends(&ncookie, COOKIE_EXPIRES);
                        smart_str_appends(&ncookie, date_fmt);
                        efree(date_fmt);
                }
        }
 
        if (PS(cookie_path)[0]) {
                smart_str_appends(&ncookie, COOKIE_PATH);
                smart_str_appends(&ncookie, PS(cookie_path));
        }
 
        if (PS(cookie_domain)[0]) {
                smart_str_appends(&ncookie, COOKIE_DOMAIN);
                smart_str_appends(&ncookie, PS(cookie_domain));
        }
 
        if (PS(cookie_secure)) {
                smart_str_appends(&ncookie, COOKIE_SECURE);
        }
 
        if (PS(cookie_httponly)) {
                smart_str_appends(&ncookie, COOKIE_HTTPONLY);
        }
 
        smart_str_0(&ncookie);
 
        /*      'replace' must be 0 here, else a previous Set-Cookie
                header, probably sent with setcookie() will be replaced! */
        sapi_add_header_ex(ncookie.c, ncookie.len, 0, 0 TSRMLS_CC);
}

PHP Session File Hacks originally appeared on AskApache.com

Debugging Tools for Windows

AskApache — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:43:47 +0000

AskApache.com

I am almost ready to publish the final tutorial on using ssh tunnels from a truecrypt partition on a Windows machine. Of course I choose to go way overboard in my research and the tutorial is full of some pretty awesome windows tricks.. I will come back to this post soon and post all the other advanced tools I use for debugging windows, for now though you MUST know how to debug the kernel and use these basic debugging tools.

WINDOWS NETWORKING !!!!!

Debugging Tools for Windows

Target Computer and Host Computer

Kernel-mode debugging requires a target computer and a host computer. The target computer is used to run the kernel-mode application. The host computer is used to run the debugger. The following diagram shows the typical Microsoft Windows setup that you can use to perform kernel debugging and diagnose system failures. Typical Windows debugging setup This diagram shows the typical setup. However, the current versions of KD and WinDbg (which you installed with this documentation) are flexible. KD and WinDbg can do the following

Debug a target computer that is running Windows.
Debug a target computer that is running on an x86-based platform, an Itanium-based platform, or an x64-based platform.
Can be started from a host computer that is running Windows.
Can be started from a host computer that is on an x86-based platform, an Itanium-based platform, or an x64-based platform.

The target computer and host computer do not have to use the same platform or the same version of Windows. Kernel debugging does not require specific combinations of the free or checked builds. You can debug a free system from a free or checked system, and you can debug a checked system from a free or checked system. However, typically, there is no reason for the host computer to run the slower checked build. Note If you are running the debuggers from an Itanium-based host computer, make sure that you are using the correct version of the binaries. For more information about which version of the debugger package to use, see Choosing a 32-bit or 64-bit Debugger Package.

Debugging Tools for Windows

List of Tools and Documentation

Microsoft Debugging Tools for Windows includes a number of debuggers and other tools. Some of them are described in this documentation, and others are described elsewhere. The following list briefly describes each tool and where its documentation can be found.

Debuggers

Debugging Tools for Windows includes the following debuggers. These are described throughout this documentation, and are referred to by their individual names or collectively as "the debugger":

WinDbg (Windbg.exe): A user-mode and kernel-mode debugger with a graphical interface.
KD (Kd.exe): A kernel-mode debugger with a console interface.
CDB (Cdb.exe): A user-mode debugger with a console interface.
NTSD (Ntsd.exe): A user-mode debugger with a console interface. CDB and NTSD are virtually identical. In this documentation, whenever a reference is made to "CDB", it applies to both CDB and NTSD. When these two debuggers differ, it is noted. (See CDB and NTSD for details.)

Debugging Tools for Windows - Overview

Looking for updates and drivers for your personal computer? You can use Debugging Tools for Windows to debug drivers, applications, and services on systems that are running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows 7. You can also use Debugging Tools for Windows to debug the operating system itself. Versions of the Debugging Tools for Windows package are available for 32-bit x86, native Intel Itanium, and native x64 platforms. The latest release of Debugging Tools for Windows is available as part of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK). Note: If you have a system with a 64-bit processor and you are debugging an application on it, you must use one of the native 64-bit packages.

Using Debugging Tools for Windows

	Download Windows Symbol Packages Symbol packages for a variety of Windows versions.
	Install Debugging Tools for Windows 32-bit Version Download page for the latest 32-bit packages.
	Install Debugging Tools for Windows 64-bit Versions Download page for the latest 64-bit packages.
	What's New for Debugging Tools for Windows
	Debugging Tools and Symbols: Getting Started Tips for using Debugging Tools for Windows, with links to presentations and papers on best practices

Debugger How-Tos

	Driver Tip: Debugging Windows Vista
	Improve Driver Debugability
	1394 Kernel Debugging Tips and Tricks [WinHEC 2004; 373 KB]
	Advanced Driver Debugging [336 KB]
	Driver Debugging Basics [WinHEC 2007; 633 KB]
	Debugging Kernel-Mode Driver Framework Drivers
	Debugging User-Mode Driver Framework Drivers Training Sessions
	Debugging Tools for Windows (MSDN)
	HOWTO: Enable Verbose Debug Tracing in Various Drivers and Subsystems (314743)
	WDK Online: Tools for Debugging Drivers

Resources

	WDK Documentation Download
	Driver Developer Community Resources
	Driver Signing Requirements for Windows
	Notes from Windows Development Teams
	Support for Developer Kits and Tools
	Driver Developer Blogs
	Windows Driver Kit (WDK) Version 7.1.0 Release Notes
	WDK Documentation on MSDN

See Also

Microsoft Application Verifier

Additional Tools and Utilities

Debugging Tools for Windows also includes the following tools and utilities:

Logger (Logger.exe and Logexts.dll): A tool and an extension DLL that record the function calls and other actions of a program. Logger is described in this documentation; see Logger and LogViewer.
LogViewer (Logviewer.exe): A tool that displays the logs created by Logger. LogViewer is described in this documentation; see Logger and LogViewer.
ADPlus (Autodump+, Adplus.vbs): A console-based Microsoft Visual Basic script that can automatically create memory dump files and log files with debug output from one or more processes. ADPlus is described in this documentation; see ADPlus.
DbgRpc (Dbgrpc.exe): A tool used to display Microsoft Remote Procedure Call (RPC) state information. DbgRpc is described in this documentation; see RPC Debugging and Using the DbgRpc Tool.
KDbgCtrl (Kernel Debugging Control, Kdbgctrl.exe): A tool that controls and configures the kernel debugging connection. KDbgCtrl is described in this documentation; see Using KDbgCtrl.
SrcSrv (Srcsrv.dll): A source server that can be used to deliver source files while debugging. SrcSrv is described in this documentation; see SrcSrv.
SymSrv (Symsrv.dll): A symbol server that the debugger can use to connect to a symbol store. SymSrv is described in this documentation; see SymSrv.
SymStore (Symstore.exe): A tool used to create a symbol store. SymSrv is described in this documentation; see Using SymStore.
SymProxy: A tool used to create a single HTTP symbol server on your network that all your debuggers can point to. This has the benefit of pointing to multiple symbol servers (both internal and external) with a single symbol path, handling all authentication, and increasing performance via symbol caching. SymProxy is described in this documentation; see SymProxy.
AgeStore (Agestore.exe): A tool that removes old entries in the downstream store of a symbol server or a source server. AgeStore is described in this documentation; see AgeStore.
DBH (Dbh.exe): A tool that displays information about the contents of a symbol file. DBH is described in this documentation; see DBH.
PDBCopy (Pdbcopy.exe): A tool that removes private symbol information from a symbol file, and controls which public symbols are included in the file. PDBCopy is described in this documentation; see PDBCopy.
DumpChk (Dump File Checking Utility, Dumpchk.exe): A tool used to validate a memory dump file. DumpChk is described in this documentation; see DumpChk.
DbgSrv (Dbgsrv.exe): A process server used for remote debugging. DbgSrv is described in this documentation; see Process Servers (User Mode).
KdSrv (Kdsrv.exe): A KD connection server used for remote debugging. KDSrv is described in this documentation; see KD Connection Servers (Kernel Mode).
DbEngPrx (Dbengprx.exe): A repeater (small proxy server) used for remote debugging. DbgSrv is described in this documentation; see Repeaters.


The Remote tool (Remote.exe): A remoting tool that can be used to remotely control any console program, including KD, CDB, and NTSD. The Remote tool is described in this documentation; see Remote Tool and Remote Debugging Through Remote.exe.
GFlags (Global Flags Editor, Gflags.exe): A tool used to control registry keys and other settings. GFlags is described in this documentation; see GFlags.
The Kill tool (Kill.exe): A tool used to terminate a process. The Kill tool is described in this documentation; see Kill Tool.
The Breakin tool (Breakin.exe): A tool used to cause a user-mode break to occur in a process. Breakin.exe is not described in this documentation. Use the breakin /? command for help with this tool.
The List tool (File List Utilit y, List.exe): List.exe is not described in this documentation. Use the list /? command for help with this tool.
TList (Task List Viewer, Tlist.exe): A tool used to list all running processes. TList is described in this documentation; see TList.
RTList (Remote Task List Viewer, Rtlist.exe): A tool used to list running processes via a DbgSrv process server. RTList is not described in this documentation. Use the rtlist /? command for help with this tool.
UMDH (User-Mode Dump Heap utility, Umdh.exe): A tool used to analyze heap allocations. UMDH is described in this documentation; see UMDH.
USBView (Universal Serial Bus Viewer, Usbview.exe): A tool used to display the USB devices connected to a computer. USBView is described in this documentation; see USBView.

If you peform a custom install of Debugging Tools for Windows and select the SDK feature and all of its subfeatures, the libraries, headers, and samples used to build debugger extensions will be installed.

Documentation

"Debugging Tools for Windows" (Debugger.chm): This is the documentation you are currently reading. It is the central documentation for Debugging Tools for Windows.
"Debug Help Library" (Dbghelp.chm): This documentation describes the DbgHelp API and the ImageHlp API, and also explains how to create your own symbol server. This is installed when you peform a custom install of Debugging Tools for Windows and select the SDK feature and its subfeatures.

Tools Outside the Debugging Tools for Windows Package

The following related tools are not part of the Debugging Tools for Windows package:

Dr. Watson (Drwtsn32.exe): A tool used for automatically creating dump files and sending error reports to Microsoft Online Crash Analysis (OCA). Dr. Watson is partially described in this documentation; see Dr. Watson. The other features of Dr. Watson are described in the help file associated with drwtsn32.exe.
Build utility (Build.exe): A compiler and linker used to build debugger extensions and other programs. The Build utility and its documentation can be found in the Windows Driver Kit, and in earlier versions of the Windows DDK.
BinPlace (Binplace.exe): A tool used to control symbol files for build products. BinPlace and its documentation can be found in the Windows Driver Kit, and in earlier versions of the Windows DDK.
Application Verifier (AppVerif.exe and !avrf): A tool used to test user-mode applications. This tool consists of two components: the AppVerif.exe utility and the !avrf extension command. All the features of Application Verifier that are debugger-related are described in Application Verifier. The other features of Application Verifier are described in the help file associated with AppVerif.exe.

Debugging Tools for Windows

WinDbg

Microsoft Windows Debugger (WinDbg) is a powerful Windows-based debugging tool. It is capable of both user-mode and kernel-mode debugging. WinDbg provides full source-level debugging for the Windows kernel, kernel-mode drivers, and system services, as well as user-mode applications and drivers. WinDbg uses the Microsoft Visual Studio debug symbol formats for source-level debugging. It can access any symbol or variable from a module that has PDB symbol files, and can access any public function's name that is exposed by modules that were compiled with COFF symbol files (such as Windows .dbg files). WinDbg can view source code, set breakpoints, view variables (including C++ objects), stack traces, and memory. Its Debugger Command window allows the user to issue a wide variety of commands. For kernel-mode debugging, WinDbg requires two machines (the host computer and the target computer). Kernel debugging is only supported on NT-based Windows operating systems. WinDbg also supports various remote debugging options for both user-mode and kernel-mode targets. WinDbg is the graphical-interface counterpart to CDB / NTSD and to KD.

Debugging Tools for Windows

Microsoft Kernel Debugger (KD) is a character-based console program that enables in-depth analysis of kernel-mode activity on all NT-based operating systems. KD can be used to debug kernel-mode programs and drivers, or to monitor the behavior of the operating system itself. KD also supports multiprocessor debugging. Typically, the KD tool will not be run on the computer being debugged. Two machines (the host computer and the target computer) are needed for kernel-mode debugging. Most KD commands cannot be targeted to specific processes or threads, as they can in CDB, NTSD, and WinDbg.

Debugging different target platforms

KD is capable of debugging a target computer which is running on an x86, Itanium, or x64 platform. The debugger will automatically detect the platform on which the target is running. You do not need to specify the target on the KD command line. The older syntax (using the name I386KD or IA64KD) is obsolete.

Debugging Tools for Windows

CDB and NTSD

CDB and NTSD are console applications which can debug user-mode programs. These two debuggers are nearly identical, except in the manner in which they are launched. This documentation will use "CDB" when referring to the capabilities of both CDB and NTSD. Except as noted, all references to CDB in this documentation apply equally to NTSD. There are a few techniques that can only work properly with CDB, or can only work properly with NTSD. These differences are documented in the appropriate sections.

CDB

Microsoft Console Debugger (CDB) is a character-based console program that enables low-level analysis of Windows user-mode memory and constructs. CDB is extremely powerful for debugging a program that is currently running or has recently crashed ("live analysis"), yet simple to set up. It can be used to investigate the behavior of a working application. In the case of a failing application, CDB can be used to obtain a stack trace or to look at the guilty parameters. It works well across a network (using a remote access server), as it is character-based. With CDB, you can display and execute program code, set breakpoints, and examine and change values in memory. CDB can analyze binary code by "disassembling" it and displaying assembly instructions. It can also analyze source code directly. Because CDB can access memory locations through addresses or global symbols, you can refer to data and instructions by name rather than by address, making it easy to locate and debug specific sections of code. You can also display disassembled machine code. CDB supports debugging multiple threads and processes. It is extensible, and can read and write both paged and non-paged memory. If the target application is itself a console application, the target will share the console window with CDB. To spawn a separate console window for a target console application, use the -2 command-line option.

NTSD

There is a variation of the CDB debugger named Microsoft NT Symbolic Debugger (NTSD). It is identical to CDB in every way, except that it spawns a new text window when it is started, whereas CDB inherits the Command Prompt window from which it was invoked. Like CDB, NTSD is fully capable of debugging both console applications and graphical Windows programs. (The name "Console Debugger" is used to indicate the fact that CDB is classified as a console application; it does not imply that the target application must be a console application.) Since the start command can also be used to spawn a new console window, the following two constructions will give the same results: start cdb parameters ntsd parameters

NTSD in the System32 Directory

Whereas CDB is only available as part of the Debugging Tools for Windows package, NTSD is available both in this package and as part of the Windows system itself. It can be found in the system32 directory of Windows. If you are planning on using the NTSD that appears in the system32 directory, there are two important facts you should be aware of:

This version of NTSD cannot be used for Remote Debugging Through the Debugger.
This version of NTSD may not match the version of the documentation you are currently reading.

To avoid these issues, it is recommended that you use only the version of NTSD or CDB that was installed as part of the Debugging Tools for Windows package.

Controlling CDB or NTSD from the Kernel Debugger

It is possible to redirect the input and output from CDB or NTSD so that it can be controlled from a kernel debugger (either KD or WinDbg). If this technique is used with CDB, the CDB window will appear but will not be useable for input and output. If this is used with NTSD, no console window will appear at all. Controlling NTSD from the kernel debugger is therefore especially useful, since it results in an extremely light-weight debugger that places almost no burden on the computer containing the target application. This combination can be used to debug system processes, shutdown, and the later stages of boot up. See Controlling the User-Mode Debugger from the Kernel Debugger for details.

Debugging Tools for Windows originally appeared on AskApache.com

Advanced WordPress wp-config.php Tweaks

AskApache — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:23:37 +0000

AskApache.com

The bottom line for this article is that I want to make WordPress as fast, secure, and easy to install, run, and manage because I am using it more and more for client production sites, I will work for days in order to solve an issue so that I never have to spend time on that issue again. Time is money in this industry and that is ultimately (time) what there is to gain by tweaking WordPress.

Note: I spent no time on readability, this is primarily a read the code and figure it out article.. This is for advanced users looking for a reference or discussion and for those of you looking to advance. Feedback would be great if you make it that far..

For a better handle on the way I like to structure web site directories, see Optimize a Website for Speed, Security, and Easy Management but note it is a bit outdated compared to what I'm doing now. I don't have the luxury of using only one type of server, or hosting provider anymore, so I have been working towards making things even more portable in order to move from host to host from server to server without issues i.e. my portable .bash_profile.

So I've been basically experimenting various ways to accomplish that and thought I would share what I am currently doing for my benefit and hopefully get some input. All of my WP installs run the development version, and one main idea with my setups is that upgrading is automated. So I really keep the WordPress install clean and use plugins and wp-config.php to do all the customization.

Portability - Hands-free upgrades and easy to move
Security - Additional security and protection
Speed - Less CPU and Disk I/O
Customization - All my favorite customizations

wp-config.php

These are the main settings I use.. Seriously this is more like an interactive article, because to understand it you will need to do some code grepping. You may want to grab a jolt.

ASKAPACHE_ROOT

The ASKAPACHE_ROOT variable is just a better way for me to be able to include and access all the different files in my site tree. For instance, in my non-wp php files, I can do this:

!defined('ASKAPACHE_ROOT') && require $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/wp-config.php';
include(ASKAPACHE_ROOT . '/includes/custom-download.inc.php');

ASKAPACHE_LOCK

This is one of my all-time favorite hacks, that I think is one of the most useful methods I employ as a web developer. This allows me to use far-future-expire headers for optimum caching, while still forcing browsers to re-validate every day or so automatically, or forcing them to re-validate whenever I change the suffix. This takes advantage of the mod_rewrite trick that I use on EVERY site I run, definately worth learning. Because I practice best-practice web-standards, for every web site I create a single css file and javascript file, which I then add to the template like:

 Settings > General panel.
 */
!defined('WP_SITEURL') && define('WP_SITEURL', 'http://'.$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']);
 
/**
 * WP_HOME is another wp-config.php option added in WordPress Version 2.2. Similar to WP_SITEURL,
 * WP_HOME overrides the wp_options table value for home but does not change it permanently.
 * home is the address you want people to type in their browser to reach your WordPress blog. It should include the http:// part. Also, do not put a slash "/" at the end.
 */
!defined('WP_HOME') && define('WP_HOME', WP_SITEURL);
 
/** no trailing slash, full paths only */
!defined('WP_CONTENT_DIR') && define( 'WP_CONTENT_DIR', ABSPATH . 'wp-content' );
 
// full url - WP_CONTENT_DIR is defined further up
!defined('WP_CONTENT_URL') && define( 'WP_CONTENT_URL', WP_SITEURL . '/wp-content');
 
/** Allows for the plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.6.0 */
// full path, no trailing slash
!defined('WP_PLUGIN_DIR') && define( 'WP_PLUGIN_DIR', WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/plugins' );
 
/** Allows for the plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.6.0 */
// full url, no trailing slash
!defined('WP_PLUGIN_URL') && define( 'WP_PLUGIN_URL', WP_CONTENT_URL . '/plugins' );
 
/** Allows for the plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.1.0 */
// Relative to ABSPATH.  For back compat.
//!defined('PLUGINDIR') && define( 'PLUGINDIR', 'wp-content/plugins' );
 
/** Number of autosaves to save. TRUE is default and enables post revisions, FALSE disables revisions completely. */
!defined('WP_POST_REVISIONS') && define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 150);
 
/* ini_set('memory_limit', WP_MEMORY_LIMIT); */
!defined('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT') && define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M');
 
/** Only check at this interval for new messages. Default is 5min */
/** @since 2.9  */
!defined('WP_MAIL_INTERVAL') && define('WP_MAIL_INTERVAL', 3600); // 1 hour
 
/** Saves updated post values to post from edit window every x seconds. (default 60)
 * When editing a post, WordPress uses Ajax to auto-save revisions to the post as you edit. You may want to increase this setting for longer delays in between auto-saves, or decrease the setting to make sure you never lose changes.
 * @since 2.5.0 */
!defined( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL' ) && define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 60 );
 
/** @since 2.9.0  */
/** Permanently deletes posts, pages, attachments, and comments which have been in the trash for EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS. */
!defined( 'EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS' ) && define( 'EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 300 );

Debugging WordPress

One of my secrets for getting really good at this stuff is to master debugging. There is really not ever a time when I am working on a site that I don't have color-highlighted logs scrolling automatically in an ssh window. It's really almost impossible to fix problems with wordpress or do any kind of advanced anything without being able to view debugging info. At first I relied heavily on a custom php.ini being available on the server, but after having to deal with many hosts who don't allow php.ini files I now rely completely on setting values using ini_set for ultimate portability. Detailed towards the end of this article and is also included in this wp-config.php

/**#@+
 * DEBUGGING STUFF
 */
/** display of notices during development. if false, error_reporting is E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_USER_ERROR | E_USER_WARNING | E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR otherwise E_ALL */
!defined('WP_DEBUG') && define('WP_DEBUG', false);
 
/** The SAVEQUERIES definition saves the database queries to a array and that array can be displayed to help analyze those queries.
 *  The information saves each query, what function called it, and how long that query took to execute.  */
!defined('SAVE_QUERIES') && define('SAVE_QUERIES', WP_DEBUG);
 
!defined('ACTION_DEBUG') && define('ACTION_DEBUG', WP_DEBUG);
 
/** This will allow you to edit the scriptname.dev.js files in the wp-includes/js and wp-admin/js directories.  */
!defined('SCRIPT_DEBUG') && define('SCRIPT_DEBUG', WP_DEBUG);
 
/** Add define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); to enable php debug logging to WP_CONTENT_DIR/debug.log */
//!defined('WP_DEBUG_LOG') && define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
 
/** This determines whether errors should be printed to the screen as part of the output or if they should be hidden from the user.
 *  Add define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false); to wp-config.php to use the globally configured setting for display_errors and not force it to On */
!defined('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY') && define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Ultimate Security Tweaks

Well, ultimate for WP's built-in keys and password functions, this is all for wp-config.php keep in mind. This is a very neccessary and recommended step, and is one of the only things I modify for each new installation.

Security KEYS

If like me you are familiar with password-cracking software like John the ripper, rainbow hash tables, l0pht-crack, etc.. then you will like to know that you can specify your own keys and salts for the encryption used by WP. They are AUTH_KEY, AUTH_SALT, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_SALT, LOGGED_IN_KEY, LOGGED_IN_SALT, NONCE_KEY, NONCE_SALT, SECRET_KEY and SECRET_SALT.

A random and long key gives you better encryption, and exponentially increasing that is using a random and long salt for the encryption. Encryptions with known salts are incredibly easy to decrypt compared to encryptions with secure salts, because the salt + key individually need to be guessed in order to find a matching hash, vs. just the key if the salt is known. See: Locating weak passwords.

A secret key is a hashing salt which makes your site harder to hack and access harder to crack by adding random elements to the password.

In simple terms, a secret key is a password with elements that make it harder to generate enough options to break through your security barriers. A password like "password" or "test" is simple and easily broken. A random, unpredictable password such as "88a7da62429ba6ad3cb3c76a09641fc" takes years to come up with the right combination.

For more information on the technical background and breakdown of secret keys and secure passwords, see:

I like to use the WordPress.org secret-key service 4 times. That's because for each key and salt I like to do: (1 key from api +random keyboard input+1 key from api).

/**#@+
 * Authentication Unique Keys.
 *
 * Change these to different unique phrases!
 * You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
 * You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies.
 * This will force all users to have to log in again.
 *
 * @since 2.6.0
 *
 * Get salt to add to hashes to help prevent attacks.
 *
 * The secret key is located in two places: the database in case the secret key
 * isn't defined in the second place, which is in the wp-config.php file. If you
 * are going to set the secret key, then you must do so in the wp-config.php
 * file.
 *
 * The secret key in the database is randomly generated and will be appended to
 * the secret key that is in wp-config.php file in some instances. It is
 * important to have the secret key defined or changed in wp-config.php.
 *
 * If you have installed WordPress 2.5 or later, then you will have the
 * SECRET_KEY defined in the wp-config.php already. You will want to change the
 * value in it because hackers will know what it is. If you have upgraded to
 * WordPress 2.5 or later version from a version before WordPress 2.5, then you
 * should add the constant to your wp-config.php file.
 *
 * Below is an example of how the SECRET_KEY constant is defined with a value.
 * You must not copy the below example and paste into your wp-config.php. If you
 * need an example, then you can have a
 * {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ secret key created} for you.
 *
 * Salting passwords helps against tools which has stored hashed values of
 * common dictionary strings. The added values makes it harder to crack if given
 * salt string is not weak.
 *
 * @since 2.5
 * @link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ Create a Secret Key for wp-config.php
 *
 * @return string Salt value from either 'SECRET_KEY' or 'secret' option
 */
define('AUTH_KEY',        'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?p[B+GR{@>{Yq`c|LnG;dvq#| %OA_cbBSU6,rICC1o/c)-|');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?Vp[Bb15baar8&R-r<[T|?(xhJJABGq+Ux+U$)-Hltp/');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',   'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?Vp[B<5n6DG|YWnJ9tY2!M1L)`{-$LW~~Ia%.uCbn!P. 41o2$Z$4');
define('NONCE_KEY',       'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?Vp[Bgu+wm 2)bS0Pd_+1rx0brX]ND8|');
define('SECRET_SALT',      '123423190847olqkfhladhfsldshafasdfasdf09a7f-90a87df98adfyapoiyaf9asd8f70a9s8d7f908a7sdf97W4qCdm2<>))U|sty)+4vpWooKls/^[vN');
/**#@-*/

Using SSL for Admin and Login

SSL is kinda required from my point of view, it is just way to easy to sniff data off the wire otherwise. At least with SSL you force them to use tools like burpsuite, paros proxy, webscarab, etc..

/** @since 2.6.0  */
!defined('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN') && define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);
 
/** @since 2.6.0  */
!defined('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN') && define('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', true);

Mod_Rewrite to Force SSL

This is pretty cool, it forces non-https for all urls except for /wp-admin and wp-login.php, which both require https. It also checks for the logged_in_cookie, and if that is present in the request then it doesn't force non-https. Kinda confusing if you don't have a mod_rewrite cheatsheet.

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(wp-admin|wp-login\.php).*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ^.*wp_li_sadfsdfasdf11b361cdsdfasdfasd=.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [S=1]
 
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.askapache\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* http://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
 
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(wp-admin/.*|wp-login\.php.*)\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule .* https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

File System Permissions

You can get a basic and solid intro on file permissions by reading: Changing File Permissions, or you can check out some of my file permission research.

/** The permissions as octal number, usually 0644 for files, 0755 for dirs.
 *  http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions
 *  if ( !$wp_filesystem->mkdir($remote_destination, FS_CHMOD_DIR) )
 */
!defined('FS_CHMOD_DIR') && define('FS_CHMOD_DIR', (0755 & ~ umask()));
!defined('FS_CHMOD_FILE') && define('FS_CHMOD_FILE', (0644 & ~ umask()));
/**#@-*/
 
/** Define the timeouts for the connections. Only available after the construct is called to allow for per-transport overriding of the default. */
//stream_set_timeout( $stream, FS_TIMEOUT );
//!defined('FS_TIMEOUT') && define('FS_TIMEOUT', 30);
 
//$this->link = @ftp_connect($this->options['hostname'], $this->options['port'], FS_CONNECT_TIMEOUT);
//!defined('FS_CONNECT_TIMEOUT') && define('FS_CONNECT_TIMEOUT', 30);
 
// function get_filesystem_method($args = array(), $context = false) {
//  $method = defined('FS_METHOD') ? FS_METHOD : false; //Please ensure that this is either 'direct', 'ssh', 'ftpext' or 'ftpsockets'
//!defined('FS_METHOD') && define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');
 
/** These methods for the WordPress core, plugin, and theme upgrades try to determine the WordPress path, as reported by PHP, but symlink trickery can sometimes
 * 'muck this up' so if you know the paths to the various folders on the server, as seen via your FTP user, you can manually define them in the wp-config.php file.
 * FS_METHOD forces the filesystem method. It should only be "direct", "ssh", "ftpext", or "ftpsockets".
 * FTP_BASE is the full path to the "base" folder of the WordPress installation.
 * FTP_CONTENT_DIR is the full path to the wp-content folder of the WordPress installation.
 * FTP_PLUGIN_DIR is the full path to the plugins folder of the WordPress installation.
 * FTP_PUBKEY is the full path to your SSH public key.
 * FTP_PRIKEY is the full path to your SSH private key.
 * FTP_USER is either user FTP or SSH username. Most likely these are the same, but use the appropriate one for the type of update you wish to do.
 * FTP_PASS is the password for the username entered for FTP_USER. If you are using SSH public key authentication this can be omitted.
 * FTP_HOST is the hostname:port combination for your SSH/FTP server. The standard FTP port is 21 and the standard SSH port is 22.
 */
//define('FS_METHOD', 'ftpext');
//define('FTP_BASE', '/path/to/wordpress/');
//define('FTP_CONTENT_DIR', '/path/to/wordpress/wp-content/');
//define('FTP_PLUGIN_DIR ', '/path/to/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/');
//define('FTP_PUBKEY', '/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub');
//define('FTP_PRIKEY', '/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa');
//define('FTP_USER', 'username');
//define('FTP_PASS', 'password');
//define('FTP_HOST', 'ftp.example.org:21');
 
/**
 * Block requests through the proxy.
 *
 * Those who are behind a proxy and want to prevent access to certain hosts may do so. This will
 * prevent plugins from working and core functionality, if you don't include api.wordpress.org.
 *
 * You block external URL requests by defining WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL in your wp-config.php file
 * and this will only allow localhost and your blog to make requests.
 * The constant WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS will allow additional hosts to go through for requests. The format of the
 * WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS constant is a comma separated list of hostnames to allow.
 *
 * @since 2.8.0
 * @link http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8927 Allow preventing external requests.
/** @since 2.9  */
//!defined('WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL') && define( 'WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL', false );
 
/*
 * The constant WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS will allow additional hosts to go through for requests. The format of the
 * WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS constant is a comma separated list of hostnames to allow.
 *
 * @since 2.8.0
 * @link http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8927 Allow preventing external requests.
 * $accessible_hosts = preg_split('|,\s*|', WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS);
 * return !in_array( $check['host'], $accessible_hosts ); //Inverse logic, If its in the array, then we can't access it.
 */
//!defined('WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS') && define( 'WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS', 'askapache.com,askapache.org' );

Cookies!

There's always a little comfort in having non-default cookies for security (against auto-bots), and using shorter names also means smaller HTTP Packets.

The $cookie_hash is my hack to get around the fact that COOKIEHASH isn't definable in wp-config.

/**#@+
 * COOKIES
 * Used to guarantee unique hash cookies @since 1.5 */
$cookie_hash=md5(WP_SITEURL);
 
/** Set a cookie now to see if they are supported by the browser.
 * setcookie(TEST_COOKIE, 'WP Cookie check', 0, COOKIEPATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN);
 * @since 2.3.0 */
!defined('TEST_COOKIE') && define('TEST_COOKIE', 'wp_tc');
 
/* @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('LOGGED_IN_COOKIE') && define('LOGGED_IN_COOKIE', 'wp_li_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('SECURE_AUTH_COOKIE') && define('SECURE_AUTH_COOKIE', 'wp_sa_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.5.0 */
!defined('AUTH_COOKIE') && define('AUTH_COOKIE', 'wp_a_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.0.0 */
!defined('PASS_COOKIE') && define('PASS_COOKIE', 'wp_p_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.0.0 */
!defined('USER_COOKIE') && define('USER_COOKIE', 'wp_u_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* ok unset this var, its not needed as COOKIEHASH will have this value, but is not definable in wp-config.php */
unset($cookie_hash);
 
/** @since 1.2.0 */
!defined('COOKIEPATH') && define('COOKIEPATH', preg_replace('|https?://[^/]+|i', '', WP_HOME . '/' ) );
 
/** @since 1.5.0 */
!defined('SITECOOKIEPATH') && define('SITECOOKIEPATH', preg_replace('|https?://[^/]+|i', '', WP_SITEURL . '/' ) );
 
/** @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH') && define( 'ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', SITECOOKIEPATH . 'wp-admin' );
 
/** @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('PLUGINS_COOKIE_PATH') && define( 'PLUGINS_COOKIE_PATH', preg_replace('|https?://[^/]+|i', '', WP_PLUGIN_URL)  );
 
/** @since 2.0.0 */
!defined('COOKIE_DOMAIN') && define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']);

/**
  * The WP_CACHE setting, if true, includes the wp-content/advanced-cache.php script, when executing wp-settings.php.
  * For an advanced caching plugin to use, static because you would only want one
  * if ( defined('WP_CACHE') )@include WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/advanced-cache.php';
  */
!defined('WP_CACHE') && define('WP_CACHE', true);
 
/** WordPress Localized Language, defaults to en_US.
 *
 * Change this to localize WordPress.  A corresponding MO file for the chosen
 * language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install
 * de.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to 'de' to enable German
 * language support. */
!defined('WPLANG') && define ('WPLANG', 'en_US');
 
/** Stores the location of the language directory. First looks for language folder in WP_CONTENT_DIR
 *   and uses that folder if it exists. Or it uses the "languages" folder in WPINC. @since 2.1.0 */
//!defined('WP_LANG_DIR') && define('WP_LANG_DIR', ABSPATH . WPINC . '/languages');
 
/** LANGDIR defines what directory the WPLANG .mo file resides. If LANGDIR is not defined WordPress looks first to wp-content/languages and then wp-includes/languages for the .mo defined by WPLANG file.  Old static relative path maintained for limited backwards compatibility - won't work in some cases*/
//!defined('LANGDIR') && define('LANGDIR', 'wp-content/languages');
 
/** Stores the location of the WordPress directory of functions, classes, and core content. @since 1.0.0 */
//!defined('WPINC') && define('WPINC', 'wp-includes');

WPMU Stuff

I personally don't use.

/** Allows for the mu-plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.8.0 */
//!defined('WPMU_PLUGIN_DIR') && define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_DIR', WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/mu-plugins' ); // full path, no trailing slash
 
/** Allows for the mu-plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.8.0 */
//!defined('WPMU_PLUGIN_URL') && define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_URL', WP_CONTENT_URL . '/mu-plugins' ); // full url, no trailing slash
 
/** Allows for the mu-plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.8.0 */
//!defined( 'MUPLUGINDIR' ) && define( 'MUPLUGINDIR', 'wp-content/mu-plugins' ); // Relative to ABSPATH.  For back compat.

WordPress Database

This is usually the only thing I have to manually edit when creating a new site, unless I just use the same DB and modify the $table_prefix, (farther down). I run everything I possibly can in UTF-8, but if you don't already know alot about character sets, wow it is one of the most confusing things so you may want to save learning about that topic for another day. Otherwise the following are helpful (and show how confusing character sets are!)

If you ever setup WP to use the builtin membership features, make sure you learn about the CUSTOM_USER_TABLE and CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE constants, I've found them very helpful.

/**#@+
 * MySQL settings
 */
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'askapachewpblog75');
 
/** The username to access the database */
define('DB_USER', 'askapache245d');
 
/** The password for the username to access the database */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'asdfklj2340');
 
/** The hostname to connect to the database at */
define('DB_HOST', 'mysql.askapache.com');
 
/** The charset of the database */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
 
/** The collation of the database */
define('DB_COLLATE', 'utf8_general_ci');

$table_prefix

The $table_prefix is the value placed in the front of your database tables. Change the value if you want to use something other than wp_ for your database prefix. Typically this is changed if you are installing multiple WordPress blogs in the same database, and also for enhanced security.

Its a safe and good idea to change this value pre-installation to add more security to your WordPress blog. Exploits attempted against your WordPress blog by malicious crackers often are built with the premise that your blog uses the prefix wp_, by changing the value you mitigate some attack vectors.

/**
 * WordPress Database Table prefix.
 *
 * You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
 * prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
 */
$table_prefix  = 'ar15_';
 
/** CUSTOM_USER_TABLE and CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE are used to designated that the user and usermeta tables normally utilized by WordPress are not used, instead these values/tables are used to store your user information. */
//!defined('CUSTOM_USER_TABLE') && define('CUSTOM_USER_TABLE', $table_prefix . 'my_users');
//!defined('CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE') && define('CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE', $table_prefix . 'my_usermeta');

Setup PHP Ini Settings

/** Turns the output of errors on or off, you really never want this on, you should only view errors by reading the log file. */
ini_set('display_errors', WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY);
 
/** Tells whether script error messages should be logged to the server's error log or error_log. */
ini_set('log_errors', 'On');
 
/** http://us.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php */
ini_set('date.timezone', 'America/Indianapolis');
 
/** Where to log php errors */
ini_set('error_log', ASKAPACHE_ROOT . '/logs/php_error.log');
 
/** Set the memory limit, otherwise defaults to '32M' */
ini_set('memory_limit', WP_MEMORY_LIMIT);

Sessions are slow

So I only use sessions when I have a specific use... In this case I need sessions only when one of the tools in the /online-tools/ directory is being used. And that is for the captcha image. In the future I won't ever use sessions.

if(preg_match( '#^/online-tools/#',$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'])) session_start();

Include Custom Files

Sure you could use the my-hacks.php that WP allows, or you can just stick your functions in your TEMPLATEPATH/functions.php file, but they are executed only after the wp-settings.php file, which may be too late for your file.

In the past I've also used the auto_prepend_file settings to run my script before anything (index.php) but I ran into some issues on different hosts, and it wasn't as portable.

This is useful because you can have a file with globally available functions that you can use in non-WP areas as well as WP areas. I am moving away from this more and more as I learn more about classes and build plugins instead for portability.

include_once ASKAPACHE_ROOT . '/includes/myfunctions.inc';
 
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
?>

Some Useful PHP

I am constantly trying to make my sites and code more portable, so I am using plugins alot more to accomplish things that I use to do with separate php. Here are some examples of minimal php.

add_filter("the_generator", create_function('$a','return "";'));
add_filter('the_content', create_function('$a', 'return ((is_feed())? $a."".get_the_title()." originally appeared on ".get_bloginfo("name")."." : $a);'), 99999);
add_filter('excerpt_length', create_function('$a', 'return 300;'),99);
add_filter('excerpt_more', create_function('$a', 'return "…";'),99);
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "\n";'), 95 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "\n";'), 96 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "\n";'), 97 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "\n";'), 98 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "\n";'), 99 );

Debugging Note

If you read this far than you probably know how important debugging is, but I sometimes like to stick the best tips deep in my articles to make sure only YOU find it. GRTFM isn't used on this site, it's mostly a requirement because my writing can get pretty bad.. The point, debugging is more than a crucial requirement if you want to do anything cool. Don't worry I got you.. check my AskApache Debug Viewer Plugin from the official WP site. It's pretty close to providing as verbose amount of information that I could possibly figure out how to get out of php, probably more than you have ever seen at least, I focused on quantity. I use it all the time on new installs as there is no setup required and it tells me advanced information about the setup of the server, hacker code for sure.

Here's a quick function to see set global vars, I just think this is interesting code.

function askapache_global_debug(){
  global $_GET,$_POST,$_COOKIE,$_SESSION,$_ENV,$_FILES,$_SERVER,$_REQUEST,$HTTP_POST_FILES,$HTTP_POST_VARS,$HTTP_SERVER_VARS,$HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA,$HTTP_GET_VARS,$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS,$HTTP_ENV_VARS;
  $gv=create_function('$n','global $$n; ob_start(); if ( is_array($$n) && sizeof($$n)>0 && print("[{$n}]\n") ) print_r($$n);return ob_get_clean();');
  foreach (array('_GET','_POST','_COOKIE','_SESSION','_ENV','_FILES','_SERVER','_REQUEST','HTTP_POST_FILES','HTTP_POST_VARS','HTTP_SERVER_VARS','HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA','HTTP_GET_VARS','HTTP_COOKIE_VARS','HTTP_ENV_VARS') as $k)echo $gv($k);
  print_r(get_defined_constants());
}

Also check the WordPress Codex page: Editing wp-config.php and Perishable Press's: Stupid WordPress Tricks

Advanced WordPress wp-config.php Tweaks originally appeared on AskApache.com

COMPUTER SECURITY TOOLBOX

AskApache — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:29:52 +0000

AskApache.com

List of mainly obscure security software geared more for the master pentester. These are mostly for unix, bsd, and mac and many are difficult to install and setup (require custom servers, inside access points, obscure libraries). Only programs that output data are included, so no actual exploits or anything. Most of these output extremely useful albeit extremely technical information.

You may be looking for the article: Vulnerability Scanners Review, or Top 5 Vulnerability Port Scanners

Obscure/Rare Security Software

rwhois: really great addition to using whois. Get additional info not on whois, query rwhois servers.
lft: useful alternative method of tracerouteing. oppleman
packit: define (spoof) nearly all TCP, UDP, ICMP, IP, ARP, RARP, and Ethernet header options
etherape: really cool graphical program that displays connections and protocols similar to cheops.
amap: fingerprinting
xprobe2: fingerprinting
p0f2: really exceptional fingerprinting. can be passively run in the BG.
firewalk: good packetfiltering enumerator
BGPview: bgp anyone?
icmpenum: icmp fingerprinting
dnstracer: awesome and creative graphical output of dns
ssldump: not really that useful but impressive in a report
ftester: for master pentesters only — get the lowdown on your packetfiltering
mtr: alternative traceroute
MRTG: favorite tool of ISPs, many uses here
host: don't forget this one
ike-scan: scan for vpns
upnpscan: scan for upnp devices
ftp-spider: get info on ftp server
traceproto: very nice alternative to traceroute/firewalk
sing: packet crafting
nmbscan: NBM Scanner
nbtscan: NBT Scanner
admsmb: ADMsmb
netleak: Netleak
dmitry
sara: Original security auditing software
isic: ISIC
dnsa: DNS
nemesis: Packet Crafting
zodiacdns: DNS Hacking
fragroute: Fragmented Packet Crafter/Scanner
sentry 2.0
Caecus
C-Parse
ftester: Master Pentesting Tool, Map out the filtering of your firewall with internal and external nodes
pchar

More common security programs

Nessus: Premier UNIX vulnerability assessment tool - Nessus is the best free network vulnerability scanner available, and the best to run on UNIX at any price. It is constantly updated, with more than 11,000 plugins for the free (but registration and EULA-acceptance required) feed. Key features include remote and local (authenticated) security checks, a client/server architecture with a GTK graphical interface, and an embedded scripting language for writing your own plugins or understanding the existing ones.
Wireshark: Sniffing the glue that holds the Internet together - Wireshark (known as Ethereal until a trademark dispute in Summer 2006) is a fantastic open source network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. It allows you to examine data from a live network or from a capture file on disk. You can interactively browse the capture data, delving down into just the level of packet detail you need. Wireshark has several powerful features, including a rich display filter language and the ability to view the reconstructed stream of a TCP session. It also supports hundreds of protocols and media types. A tcpdump-like console version named tethereal is included. One word of caution is that Ethereal has suffered from dozens of remotely exploi security holes, so stay up-to-date and be wary of running it on unusted or hostile networks (such as security conferences).
Snort: A Everyone's favorite open source IDS - This lightweight network inusion detection and prevention system excels at traffic analysis and packet logging on IP networks. Through protocol analysis, content searching, and various pre-processors, Snort detects thousands of worms, vulnerability exploit attempts, port scans, and other suspicious behavior. Snort uses a flexible rule-based language to describe traffic that it should collect or pass, and a modular detection engine. Also check out the free Basic Analysis and Security Engine (BASE), a web interface for analyzing Snort alerts. Open source Snort works fine for many individuals, small businesses, and departments. Parent company SourceFire offers a complimentary product line with more enterprise-level features and real-time rule updates. They offer a free (with registration) 5-day-delayed rules feed, and you can also find many great free rules at Bleeding Edge Snort.
Netcat: The network Swiss army knife - This simple utility reads and writes data across TCP or UDP network connections. It is designed to be a reliable back-end tool that can be used directly or easily driven by other programs and scripts. At the same time, it is a feature-rich network debugging and exploration tool, since it can create almost any kind of connection you would need, including port binding to accept incoming connections. The original Netcat was released by Hobbit in 1995, but it hasn't been maintained despite its immense popularity. It can sometimes even be hard to find nc110.tgz. The flexibility and usefulness of this tool have prompted people to write numerous other Netcat implementations - often with modern features not found in the original. One of the most interesting is Socat, which extends Netcat to support many other socket types, SSL encryption, SOCKS proxies, and more. It even made this list on its own merits. There is also Chris Gibson's Ncat, which offers even more features while remaining por and compact. Other takes on Netcat include OpenBSD's nc, Cryptcat, Netcat6, PNetcat, SBD, and so-called GNU Netcat.
Metasploit Framework: Hack the Planet - Metasploit took the security world by storm when it was released in 2004. No other new tool even broke into the top 15 of this list, yet Metasploit comes in at #5, ahead of many well-loved tools that have been developed for more than a decade. It is an advanced open-source platform for developing, testing, and using exploit code. The extensible model through which payloads, encoders, no-op generators, and exploits can be integrated has made it possible to use the Metasploit Framework as an outlet for cutting-edge exploitation research. It ships with hundreds of exploits, as you can see in their online exploit building demo. This makes writing your own exploits easier, and it certainly beats scouring the darkest corners of the Internet for illicit shellcode of dubious quality. Similar professional exploitation tools, such as Core Impact and Canvas already existed for wealthy users on all sides of the ethical specum. Metasploit simply brought this capability to the masses.
Hping2: A network probing utility like ping on steroids - This handy little utility assembles and sends custom ICMP, UDP, or TCP packets and then displays any replies. It was inspired by the ping command, but offers far more conol over the probes sent. It also has a handy aceroute mode and supports IP fragmentation. This tool is particularly useful when ying to aceroute/ping/probe hosts behind a firewall that blocks attempts using the standard utilities. This often allows you to map out firewall rulesets. It is also great for learning more about TCP/IP and experimenting with IP protocols.
Kismet: A powerful wireless sniffer - Kismet is an console (ncurses) based 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and inusion detection system. It identifies networks by passively sniffing (as opposed to more active tools such as NetStumbler), and can even decloak hidden (non-beaconing) networks if they are in use. It can automatically detect network IP blocks by sniffing TCP, UDP, ARP, and DHCP packets, log traffic in Wireshark/TCPDump compatible format, and even plot detected networks and estimated ranges on downloaded maps. As you might expect, this tool is commonly used for wardriving. Oh, and also warwalking, warflying, and warskating
Tcpdump: The classic sniffer for network monitoring and data acquisition - Tcpdump is the IP sniffer we all used before Ethereal (Wireshark) came on the scene, and many of us continue to use it frequently. It may not have the bells and whistles (such as a pretty GUI or parsing logic for hundreds of application protocols) that Wireshark has, but it does the job well and with fewer security holes. It also requires fewer system resources. While it doesn't receive new features often, it is actively maintained to fix bugs and portability problems. It is great for acking down network problems or monitoring activity. There is a separate Windows port named WinDump. TCPDump is the source of the Libpcap/WinPcap packet capture library, which is used by Nmap among many other tools.
Cain and Abel: The top password recovery tool for Windows - UNIX users often smugly assert that the best free security tools support their platform first, and Windows ports are often an afterthought. They are usually right, but Cain & Abel is a glaring exception. This Windows-only password recovery tool handles an enormous variety of tasks. It can recover passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, decoding scrambled passwords, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols. It is also well documented.
John the Ripper: A powerful, flexible, and fast multi-platform password hash cracker - John the Ripper is a fast password cracker, currently available for many flavors of Unix (11 are officially supported, not counting different architectures), DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVMS. Its primary purpose is to detect weak Unix passwords. It supports several crypt(3) password hash types which are most commonly found on various Unix flavors, as well as Kerberos AFS and Windows NT/2000/XP LM hashes. Several other hash types are added with conibuted patches. You will want to start with some wordlists, which you can find here, here, or here.
Ettercap: In case you still thought switched LANs provide much exa security - Ettercap is a terminal-based network sniffer/interceptor/logger for ethernet LANs. It supports active and passive dissection of many protocols (even ciphered ones, like ssh and https). Data injection in an established connection and filtering on the fly is also possible, keeping the connection synchronized. Many sniffing modes were implemented to give you a powerful and complete sniffing suite. Plugins are supported. It has the ability to check whether you are in a switched LAN or not, and to use OS fingerprints (active or passive) to let you know the geomey of the LAN.
Nikto: A more comprehensive web scanner - Nikto is an open source (GPL) web server scanner which performs comprehensive tests against web servers for multiple items, including over 3200 potentially dangerous files/CGIs, versions on over 625 servers, and version specific problems on over 230 servers. Scan items and plugins are frequently updated and can be automatically updated (if desired). It uses Whisker/libwhisker for much of its underlying functionality. It is a great tool, but the value is limited by its infrequent updates. The newest and most critical vulnerabilities are often not detected.
Ping/telnet/dig/aceroute/whois/netsta: The basics - While there are many whiz-bang high-tech tools out there to assist in security auditing, don't forget about the basics! Everyone should be very familiar with these tools as they come with most operating systems (except that Windows omits whois and uses the name acert). They can be very handy in a pinch, although for more advanced usage you may be better off with Hping2 and Netcat.
OpenSSH / PuTTY / SSH: A secure way to access remote computers - SSH (Secure Shell) is the now ubiquitous program for logging into or executing commands on a remote machine. It provides secure encrypted communications between two unusted hosts over an insecure network, replacing the hideously insecure telnet/rlogin/rsh alternatives. Most UNIX users run the open source OpenSSH server and client. Windows users often prefer the free PuTTY client, which is also available for many mobile devices. Other Windows users prefer the nice terminal-based port of OpenSSH that comes with Cygwin. Dozens of other free and proprietary clients exist. You can explore them here or here.
THC Hydra: A Fast network authentication cracker which support many different services - When you need to brute force crack a remote authentication service, Hydra is often the tool of choice. It can perform rapid dictionary attacks against more then 30 protocols, including telnet, ftp, http, https, smb, several databases, and much more. Like THC Amap this release is from the fine folks at THC.
Paros proxy: A web application vulnerability assessment proxy - A Java based web proxy for assessing web application vulnerability. It supports editing/viewing HTTP/HTTPS messages on-the-fly to change items such as cookies and form fields. It includes a web traffic recorder, web spider, hash calculator, and a scanner for testing common web application attacks such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
Dsniff: A suite of powerful network auditing and peneation-testing tools - This popular and well-engineered suite by Dug Song includes many tools. dsniff, filesnarf, mailsnarf, msgsnarf, urlsnarf, and webspy passively monitor a network for interesting data (passwords, e-mail, files, etc.). arpspoof, dnsspoof, and macof facilitate the interception of network traffic normally unavailable to an attacker (e.g, due to layer-2 switching). sshmitm and webmitm implement active monkey-in-the-middle attacks against redirected ssh and https sessions by exploiting weak bindings in ad-hoc PKI. A separately maintained partial Windows port is available here. Overall, this is a great toolset. It handles pretty much all of your password sniffing needs.
NetStumbler: Free Windows 802.11 Sniffer - Netstumbler is the best known Windows tool for finding open wireless access points ("wardriving"). They also disibute a WinCE version for PDAs and such named Ministumbler. The tool is currently free but Windows-only and no source code is provided. It uses a more active approach to finding WAPs than passive sniffers such as Kismet or KisMAC.
THC Amap: An application fingerprinting scanner - Amap is a great tool for determining what application is listening on a given port. Their database isn't as large as what Nmap uses for its version detection feature, but it is definitely worth ying for a 2nd opinion or if Nmap fails to detect a service. Amap even knows how to parse Nmap output files. This is yet another valuable tool from the great guys at THC.
GFI LANguard: A commercial network security scanner for Windows - GFI LANguard scans IP networks to detect what machines are running. Then it ies to discern the host OS and what applications are running. I also ies to collect Windows machine's service pack level, missing security patches, wireless access points, USB devices, open shares, open ports, services/applications active on the computer, key registry enies, weak passwords, users and groups, and more. Scan results are saved to an HTML report, which can be customized/queried. It also includes a patch manager which detects and installs missing patches. A free ial version is available, though it only works for up to 30 days.
Aircrack: The fastest available WEP/WPA cracking tool - Aircrack is a suite of tools for 802.11a/b/g WEP and WPA cracking. It can recover a 40 through 512-bit WEP key once enough encrypted packets have been gathered. It can also attack WPA 1 or 2 networks using advanced cryptographic methods or by brute force. The suite includes airodump (an 802.11 packet capture program), aireplay (an 802.11 packet injection program), aircrack (static WEP and WPA-PSK cracking), and airdecap (decrypts WEP/WPA capture files).
Superscan: A Windows-only port scanner, pinger, and resolver - SuperScan is a free Windows-only closed-source TCP/UDP port scanner by Foundstone. It includes a variety of additional networking tools such as ping, aceroute, http head, and whois.
Netfilter: The current Linux kernel packet filter/firewall - Netfilter is a powerful packet filter implemented in the standard Linux kernel. The userspace ips tool is used for configuration. It now supports packet filtering (stateless or stateful), all kinds of network address and port anslation (NAT/NAPT), and multiple API layers for 3rd party extensions. It includes many different modules for handling unruly protocols such as FTP. For other UNIX platforms, see Openbsd PF (OpenBSD specific), or IP Filter. Many personal firewalls are available for Windows (Tiny,Zone Alarm, Norton, Kerio, ...), though none made this list. Microsoft included a very basic firewall in Windows XP SP2, and will nag you incessantly until you install it.
Retina: Commercial vulnerability assessment scanner by eEye - Like Nessus, Retina's function is to scan all the hosts on a network and report on any vulnerabilities found. It was written by eEye, who are well known for their security research.
Angry IP Scanner: A fast windows IP scanner and port scanner - Angry IP Scanner can perform basic host discovery and port scans on Windows. Its binary file size is very small compared to other scanners and other pieces of information about the target hosts can be extended with a few plugins.
RKHunter: An Unix Rootkit Detector - RKHunter is scanning tool that checks for signs of various pieces of nasty software on your system like rootkits, backdoors and local exploits. It runs many tests, including MD5 hash comparisons, default filenames used by rootkits, wrong file permissions for binaries, and suspicious sings in LKM and KLD modules.
Ike-scan: VPN detector/scanner - Ike-scan exploits ansport characteristics in the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) service, the mechanism used by VPNs to establish a connection between a server and a remote client. It scans IP addresses for VPN servers by sending a specially crafted IKE packet to each host within a network. Most hosts running IKE will respond, identifying their presence. The tool then remains silent and monitors reansmission packets. These reansmission responses are recorded, displayed and matched against a known set of VPN product fingerprints. Ike-scan can VPNs from manufacturers including Checkpoint, Cisco, Microsoft, Nortel, and Watchguard.
Arpwatch: Keeps ack of ethernet/IP address pairings and can detect certain monkey business Arpwatch is the classic ARP man-in-the-middle attack detector from LBNL's Network Research Group. It syslogs activity and reports certain changes via email. Arpwatch uses LibPcap to listen for ARP packets on a local ethernet interface.
KisMAC: A A GUI passive wireless stumbler for Mac OS X - This popular stumbler for Mac OS X offers many of the features of its namesake Kismet, though the codebase is entirely different. Unlike console-based Kismet, KisMAC offers a pretty GUI and was around before Kismet was ported to OS X. It also offers mapping, Pcap-format import and logging, and even some decryption and deauthentication attacks.
OSSEC HIDS: An Open Source Host-based Inusion Detection System - OSSEC HIDS performs log analysis, integrity checking, rootkit detection, time-based alerting and active response. In addition to its IDS functionality, it is commonly used as a SEM/SIM solution. Because of its powerful log analysis engine, ISPs, universities and data centers are running OSSEC HIDS to monitor and analyze their firewalls, IDSs, web servers and authentication logs.
Openbsd PF: The OpenBSD Packet Filter - Like Netfilter and IP Filter on other platforms, OpenBSD users love PF, their firewall tool. It handles network address anslation, normalizing TCP/IP traffic, providing bandwidth conol, and packet prioritization. It also offers some eccenic features, such as passive OS detection. Coming from the same guys who created OpenBSD, you can ust that it has been well audited and coded to avoid the sort of security holes we have seen in other packet filters.
Nemesis: Packet injection simplified - The Nemesis Project is designed to be a commandline-based, por human IP stack for UNIX/Linux (and now Windows!). The suite is broken down by protocol, and should allow for useful scripting of injected packet streams from simple shell scripts. If you enjoy Nemesis, you might also want to look at Hping2 as they complement each other well.
Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system - Tor is a toolset for a wide range of organizations and people that want to improve their safety and security on the Internet. Using Tor can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, irc, ssh, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features. For a free cross-platform GUI, users recommend Vidalia
Knoppix: A general-purpose boo live system on CD or DVD - Knoppix consists of a representative collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a productive Linux system for the desktop, educational CD, rescue system, or as many nmap survey takers attest, a por security tool. For a security-specific Linux disibution see Backack.
ISS Internet Scanner: Application-level vulnerability assessment - Internet Scanner started off in '92 as a tiny open source scanner by Christopher Klaus. Now he has grown ISS into a billion-dollar company with a myriad of security products.
Fport: Foundstone's enhanced netstat - Fport reports all open TCP/IP and UDP ports on the machine you run it on and shows what application opened each port. So it can be used to quickly identify unknown open ports and their associated applications. It only runs on Windows, but many UNIX systems now provided this information via netstat (y 'netstat -pan' on Linux). Here is a PDF-Format SANS article on using Fport and analyzing the results.
chkrootkit: Locally checks for signs of a rootkit - chkrootkit is a flexible, por tool that can check for many signs of rootkit inusion on Unix-based systems. Its features include detecting binary modification, utmp/wtmp/lastlog modifications, promiscuous interfaces, and malicious kernel modules.
SPIKE Proxy: HTTP Hacking - Spike Proxy is an open source HTTP proxy for finding security flaws in web sites. It is part of the Spike Application Testing Suite and supports automated SQL injection detection, web site crawling, login form brute forcing, overflow detection, and directory aversal detection.
OpenBSD: The Proactively Secure Operating System - OpenBSD is one of the only operating systems to eat security as their very highest priority. Even higher than usability in some cases. But their enviable security record speaks for itself. They also focus on stability and fight to obtain documentation for the hardware they wish to support. Perhaps their greatest achievement was creating OpenSSH. OpenBSD users also love [pf], their firewall tool.
Yersinia: A multi-protocol low-level attack tool - Yersinia is a low-level protocol attack tool useful for peneation testing. It is capable of many diverse attacks over multiple protocols, such as becoming the root role in the Spanning ee (Spanning ee Protocol), creating virtual CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) neighbors, becoming the active router in a HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol) scenario, faking DHCP replies, and other low-level attacks.
Nagios: An open source host, service and network monitoring program - Nagios is a system and network monitoring application. It watches hosts and services that you specify, alerting you when things go bad and when they get better. Some of its many features include monitoring of network services (smtp, pop3, http, nntp, ping, etc.), monitoring of host resources (processor load, disk usage, etc.), and contact notifications when service or host problems occur and get resolved (via email, pager, or user-defined method).
Fragroute / Fragrouter: A network inusion detection evasion toolkit - Fragrouter is a one-way fragmenting router - IP packets get sent from the attacker to the Fragrouter, which ansforms them into a fragmented data stream to forward to the victim. Many network IDS are unable or simply don't bother to reconsuct a coherent view of the network data (via IP fragmentation and TCP stream reassembly), as discussed in this classic paper. Fragrouter helps an attacker launch IP-based attacks while avoiding detection. It is part of the NIDSbench suite of tools by Dug Song. Fragroute is a similar tool which is also by Dug Song.
X-scan: A general scanner for scanning network vulnerabilities - A multi-threaded, plug-in-supported vulnerability scanner. X-Scan includes many features, including full NASL support, detecting service types, remote OS type/version detection, weak user/password pairs, and more. You may be able to find newer versions available here if you can deal with most of the page being written in Chinese.
Whisker/libwhisker: Rain.Forest.Puppy's CGI vulnerability scanner and library - Libwhisker is a Perl module geared geared towards HTTP testing. It provides functions for testing HTTP servers for many known security holes, particularly the presence of dangerous CGIs. Whisker is a scanner that used libwhisker but is now deprecated in favor of Nikto which also uses libwhisker.
Socat: A relay for bidirectional data ansfer - A utility similar to the venerable Netcat that works over a number of protocols and through a files, pipes, devices (terminal or modem, etc.), sockets (Unix, IP4, IP6 - raw, UDP, TCP), a client for SOCKS4, proxy CONNECT, or SSL, etc. It provides forking, logging, and dumping, different modes for interprocess communication, and many more options. It can be used, for example, as a TCP relay (one-shot or daemon), as a daemon-based socksifier, as a shell interface to Unix sockets, as an IP6 relay, for redirecting TCP-oriented programs to a serial line, or to establish a relatively secure environment (su and chroot) for running client or server shell scripts with network connections.
Sara: Security Auditor's Research Assistant - SARA is a vulnerability assessment tool that was derived from the infamous SATAN scanner. They y to release updates twice a month and y to leverage other software created by the open source community (such as Nmap and Samba).
QualysGuard: A web-based vulnerability scanner - Delivered as a service over the Web, QualysGuard eliminates the burden of deploying, maintaining, and updating vulnerability management software or implementing ad-hoc security applications. Clients securely access QualysGuard through an easy-to-use Web interface. QualysGuard features 5,000+ unique vulnerability checks, an Inference-based scanning engine, and automated daily updates to the QualysGuard vulnerability KnowledgeBase.
ClamAV: A GPL anti-virus toolkit for UNIX - ClamAV is a powerful AntiVirus scanner focused towards integration with mail servers for attachment scanning. It provides a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon, a command line scanner, and a tool for automatic updating via the Internet. Clam AntiVirus is based on a shared library disibuted with the Clam AntiVirus package, which you can use with your own software. Most importantly, the virus database is kept up to date.
Burpsuite: An integrated platform for attacking web applications - Burp suite allows an attacker to combine manual and automated techniques to enumerate, analyze, attack and exploit web applications. The various burp tools work together effectively to share information and allow findings identified within one tool to form the basis of an attack using another.
Brutus: A network brute-force authentication cracker - This Windows-only cracker bangs against network services of remote systems ying to guess passwords by using a dictionary and permutations thereof. It supports HTTP, POP3, FTP, SMB, TELNET, IMAP, NTP, and more. No source code is available. UNIX users should take a look at THC Hydra.
Unicornscan: Not your mother's port scanner - Unicornscan is an attempt at a User-land Disibuted TCP/IP stack for information gathering and correlation. It is intended to provide a researcher a superior interface for inoducing a stimulus into and measuring a response from a TCP/IP enabled device or network. Some of its features include asynchronous stateless TCP scanning with all variations of TCP flags, asynchronous stateless TCP banner grabbing, and active/passive remote OS, application, and component identification by analyzing responses. Like Scanrand, it isn't for the faint of heart.
Stunnel: A general-purpose SSL cryptographic wrapper - The stunnel program is designed to work as an SSL encryption wrapper between remote client and local (ine-star) or remote server. It can be used to add SSL functionality to commonly used ine daemons like POP2, POP3, and IMAP servers without any changes in the programs' code. It will negotiate an SSL connection using the OpenSSL or SSLeay libraries.
Honeyd: Your own personal honeynet Honeyd is a small daemon that creates virtual hosts on a network. The hosts can be configured to run arbiary services, and their TCP personality can be adapted so that they appear to be running certain versions of operating systems. Honeyd enables a single host to claim multiple addresses on a LAN for network simulation. It is possible to ping the virtual machines, or to aceroute them. Any type of service on the virtual machine can be simulated according to a simple configuration file. It is also possible to proxy services to another machine rather than simulating them. It has many library dependencies, which can make compiling/installing Honeyd difficult.
Fping: A parallel ping scanning program - fping is a ping(1) like program which uses the Internet Conol Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request to determine if a host is up. fping is different from ping in that you can specify any number of hosts on the command line, or specify a file containing the lists of hosts to ping. Instead of ying one host until it timeouts or replies, fping will send out a ping packet and move on to the next host in a round-robin fashion. If a host replies, it is noted and removed from the list of hosts to check. If a host does not respond within a certain time limit and/or rey limit it will be considered unreachable.
BASE: The Basic Analysis and Security Engine - BASE is a PHP-based analysis engine to search and process a database of security events generated by various IDSs, firewalls, and network monitoring tools. Its features include a query-builder and search interface for finding alerts matching different patterns, a packet viewer/decoder, and charts and statistics based on time, sensor, signature, protocol, IP address, etc.
Argus: A generic IP network ansaction auditing tool - Argus is a fixed-model Real Time Flow Monitor designed to ack and report on the status and performance of all network ansactions seen in a data network traffic stream. Argus provides a common data format for reporting flow meics such as connectivity, capacity, demand, loss, delay, and jitter on a per ansaction basis. The record format that Argus uses is flexible and extensible, supporting generic flow identifiers and meics, as well as application/protocol specific information.
Wikto: Web Server Assessment Tool - Wikto is a tool that checks for flaws in webservers. It provides much the same functionality as Nikto but adds various interesting pieces of functionality, such as a Back-End miner and close Google integration. Wikto is written for the MS .NET environment and registration is required to download the binary and/or source code.
Sguil: The Analyst Console for Network Security Monitoring - Sguil (pronounced sgweel) is built by network security analysts for network security analysts. Sguil's main component is an intuitive GUI that provides realtime events from Snort/barnyard. It also includes other components which facilitate the practice of Network Security Monitoring and event driven analysis of IDS alerts.
Scanrand: An unusually fast stateless network service and topology discovery system - Scanrand is a stateless host-discovery and port-scanner similar in design to Unicornscan. It ades off reliability for amazingly fast speeds and uses cryptographic techniques to prevent attackers from manipulating scan results. This utility is a part of a software package called Paketto Keiretsu which was written by Dan Kaminsky.
IP Filter: Por UNIX Packet Filter - IP Filter is a software package that can be used to provide network address anslation (NAT) or firewall services. It can either be used as a loadable kernel module or incorporated into your UNIX kernel; use as a loadable kernel module where possible is highly recommended. Scripts are provided to install and patch system files, as required. IP Filter is disibuted with FreeBSD, NetBSD, and Solaris. OpenBSD users should see Openbsd PF and Linux users Netfilter.
Canvas: A Comprehensive Exploitation Framework - Canvas is a commercial vulnerability exploitation tool from Dave Aitel's ImmunitySec. It includes more than 150 exploits and is less expensive than Core Impact, though it still costs thousands of dollars. You can also buy the optional VisualSploit Plugin for drag and drop GUI exploit creation. Zero-day exploits can occasionally be found within Canvas.
VMware: Multi-platform Virtualization Software - VMware virtualization software lets you run one operating system within another. This is quite useful for security researchers who commonly need to test code, exploits, etc on multiple platforms. It only runs on Windows and Linux as the host OS, but pretty much any x86 OS will run inside the virtualized environment. It is also useful for setting up sandboxes. You can browse from within a VMware window so the even if you are infected with malware, it cannot reach your host OS. And recovering the guest OS is as simple as loading a "snapshot" from prior to the infection. VMware player (executes, but can't create OS images) and VMWare Server (partitions a physical server machine into multiple virtual machines) were recently released for free. Another interesting virtualization system (Linux focused) is Xen.
Tcpaceroute: A aceroute implementation using TCP packets - The problem is that with the widespread use of firewalls on the modern Internet, many of the packets that the conventional aceroute(8) sends out (ICMP echo or UDP) end up being filtered, making it impossible to completely ace the path to the destination. However, in many cases, these firewalls will permit inbound TCP packets to specific ports that hosts sitting behind the firewall are listening for connections on. By sending out TCP SYN packets instead of UDP or ICMP ECHO packets, tcpaceroute is able to bypass the most common firewall filters.
SAINT: Security Adminisator's Integrated Network Tool - SAINT is another commercial vulnerability assessment tool (like Nessus, ISS Internet Scanner, or Retina). It runs on UNIX and used to be free and open source, but is now a commercial product.
OpenVPN: A full-featured SSL VPN solution - OpenVPN is an open-source SSL VPN package which can accommodate a wide range of configurations, including remote access, site-to-site VPNs, WiFi security, and enterprise-scale remote access solutions with load balancing, failover, and fine-grained access-conols. OpenVPN implements OSI layer 2 or 3 secure network extension using the indusy standard SSL/TLS protocol, supports flexible client authentication methods based on certificates, smart cards, and/or 2-factor authentication, and allows user or group-specific access conol policies using firewall rules applied to the VPN virtual interface. OpenVPN uses OpenSSL as its primary cryptographic library.
OllyDbg: An assembly level Windows debugger - OllyDbg is a 32-bit assembler level analyzing debugger for Microsoft Windows. Emphasis on binary code analysis makes it particularly useful in cases where source is unavailable. OllyDbg features an intuitive user interface, advanced code analysis capable of recognizing procedures, loops, API calls, switches, s, constants and sings, an ability to attach to a running program, and good multi-thread support. OllyDbg is free to download and use but no source code is provided.
Helix: A Linux Disibution with Computer Forensics in Mind - Helix is a customized disibution of the Knoppix Live Linux CD. Helix is more than just a boo live CD. You can still boot into a customized Linux environment that includes customized Linux kernels, excellent hardware detection and many applications dedicated to Incident Response and Forensics. Helix has been designed very carefully to NOT touch the host computer in any way and it is forensically sound. Helix will not auto mount swap space, or auto mount any attached devices. Helix also has a special Windows autorun side for Incident Response and Forensics.
Bastille: Security hardening script for Linux, Mac OS X, and HP-UX - The Bastille Hardening program "locks down" an operating system, proactively configuring the system for increased security and decreasing its susceptibility to compromise. Bastille can also assess a system's current state of hardening, granularly reporting on each of the security settings with which it works. Bastille currently supports the Red Hat (Fedora Core, Enterprise, and Numbered/Classic), SUSE, Debian, Gentoo, and Mandrake disibutions, along with HP-UX and Mac OS X. Bastille's focuses on letting the system's user/adminisator choose exactly how to harden the operating system. In its default hardening mode, it interactively asks the user questions, explains the topics of those questions, and builds a policy based on the user's answers. It then applies the policy to the system. In its assessment mode, it builds a report intended to teach the user about available security settings as well as inform the user as to which settings have been tightened.
Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner: Commercial Web Vulnerability Scanner - Acunetix WVS automatically checks your web applications for vulnerabilities such as SQL Injection, cross site scripting, and weak password sength on authentication pages. Acunetix WVS boasts a comfor GUI and an ability to create professional website security audit reports.
trueCrypt: Open-Source Disk Encryption Software for Windows and Linux - trueCrypt is an excellent open source disk encryption system. Users can encrypt entire filesystems, which are then on-the-fly encrypted/decrypted as needed without user intervention beyond entering their passphrase intially. A clever hidden volume feature allows you to hide a 2nd layer of particularly sensitive content with plausible deniability about whether it exists. Then if you are forced to give up your passphrase, you give them the first-level secret. Even with that, attackers cannot prove that a second level key even exists.
Watchfire AppScan: Commercial Web Vulnerability Scanner - AppScan provides security testing throughout the application development lifecycle, easing unit testing and security assurance early in the development phase. Appscan scans for many common vulnerabilities, such as cross site scripting, HTTP response splitting, parameter tampering, hidden field manipulation, backdoors/debug options, buffer overflows and more.
N-Stealth: Web server scanner - N-Stealth is a commercial web server security scanner. It is generally updated more frequently than free web scanners such as Whisker/libwhisker and Nikto, but do take their web site with a grain of salt. The claims of "30,000 vulnerabilities and exploits" and "Dozens of vulnerability checks are added every day" are highly questionable. Also note that essentially all general VA tools such as Nessus, ISS Internet Scanner, Retina, SAINT, and Sara include web scanning components. They may not all be as up-to-date or flexible though. N-Stealth is Windows only and no source code is provided.
MBSA: Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer - Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) is an easy-to-use tool designed for the IT professional that helps small and medium-sized businesses determine their security state in accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers specific remediation guidance. Built on the Windows Update Agent and Microsoft Update infrasucture, MBSA ensures consistency with other Microsoft management products including Microsoft Update (MU), Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Systems Management Server (SMS) and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM). Apparently MBSA on average scans over 3 million computers each week.

COMPUTER SECURITY TOOLBOX originally appeared on AskApache.com