How deeply does Authorization in Action cover Unix file permissions?

Defines three principal categories and three actions, then interprets one listing; it stops short of command-level configuration.

Unix file permissions

As explained in Authorization in Action

A Unix operating-system mechanism that assigns read, write, and execute rights to files and directories for owners, groups, and other users.

Unix file permissions provide a compact, resource-attached access-control model. Each file or directory assigns read, write, and execute rights to three principal categories: the owner, a specific group, and everyone else. section 5.1

The model is a simplified access control list (ACL): permissions are evaluated at access time, but assignments remain limited to fixed owner, group, and others roles rather than arbitrary named users. section 5.1

Reading a permission listing

For “-rwxr-xr-- 1 alice devs deploy.sh”, Alice can read, write, and execute the script; members of devs can read and execute it; everyone else can only read it. section 5.1

How Authorization in Action covers it

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Related concepts

access control listkind of · An access control list is a collection of rules specifying which subjects or traffic may access a resource or perform particular operations.
octal literalused by · An octal literal is an integer literal representing a value in base eight.
static authorizationkind of · Static authorization is an access-control approach that evaluates requests using fixed roles, permissions, groups, or rules rather than changing request context.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Authorization in Action. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.