Correct permissions prior to using Maven and Ant while installing Dspace 6.3

[Ashim Kapoor]

Dear Dspace Experts,

I wish to know the correct permissions for the directories [dspace]
and [dspace-source] prior to running Maven and Ant.

I am using the definitions of [dspace] and [dspace-source] as on this page:

https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/DSDOC6x/Installing+DSpace

Here is what I have been doing till now:

For Running Maven (as user dspace):
I first make sure that the dspace user owns the [dspace-source] directory.

sudo chmod 700 -R [dspace-source]
( Basically rwx for [dspace-source])
mvn package

For Running Ant as user dspace:

sudo chmod 500 -R [dspace-source]
( Basically READ and EXECUTE permission for [dspace-source])
sudo chmod 200 -R [dspace]
( Amounts to WRITE permission for [dspace])
sudo chmod u+x -R [dspace]
This is so that the installed files can be executed
sudo chmod g+s -R [dspace]
This is so that the newly created files in [dspace] should inherit the
group ( which is the same as the dspace user). so that permissions are
inherited.
sudo chmod 700 -R [dspace-source]

Then I do, as user dspace:-
cd [dspace-source]/dspace/target/dspace-installer
ant fresh_install

Can someone here comment on my attempt ? Please share the best practice.

Thank you,
Ashim

[Fru Emmanuel]

Hello, 

Does setting these permissions allow you tu run ant ?

Kind regards,

[darryl....@usask.ca]

Ashim, those permissions look pretty restrictive.  Does the build and install actually work for you?

I know the install docs mention the "dspace" user, but it also states "you must ensure the Tomcat owner also owns [dspace], OR you can create a new 'dspace' user account, and ensure that Tomcat also runs as that account".  We went with the former (because that was easier and more standard than changing the account Tomcat runs as), and made sure the "tomcat" user and group owned all the files.

This is mostly from memory, but for the [dspace] directory I did something like:

     sudo mkdir [dspace]

     sudo chown tomcat:tomcat [dspace]

     sudo chmod 2775 [dspace]

And for the [dspace-source] directory I did something like:

     # Set the permissions

     sudo chown -R tomcat:tomcat [dspace-source]

     sudo chmod -R ug+rw [dspace-source]

     # Build DSpace

     sudo su - tomcat

     cd [dspace-source]

     $ Install

     mvn package

     cd dspace/target/dspace-installer

     ant fresh_install

I won't say that that's the only way, or even the correct way, but that worked for us.

- Darryl

[Ashim Kapoor]

Dear Fru and Darryl,

If my memory serves me correctly, I do think these settings worked for me.

I could be mistaken though.

I will do an experiment and again use the settings which I was curious
about and let you know. You will have to give me some time though for
me to do this experiment.

Best,
Ashim

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[Night Librarian]

Greetings!

I have a tiny question. I want to run the installation as a tomcat user, instead of dspace, as described in this conversation. Howerver, when I try to run on Ubuntu 20.4:

sudo su - tomcat

I get:

"This account is currently not available."


Do I need to be a superuser to run mvn and ant?  And if not, can I switch to just "tomcat" user like this?

su tomcat

Because when I try, I am prompted for password, which I don't have, probably because I didn't create a "tomcat" account manually, so I end up with:

su: Authentication failure

How can I run install as a tomcat user?

[Mark H. Wood]

On Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 08:18:43PM -0700, Night Librarian wrote:
> I have a tiny question. I want to run the installation as a tomcat user,
> instead of dspace, as described in this conversation. Howerver, when I try
> to run on Ubuntu 20.4:
>
> sudo su - tomcat
>
> I get:
>
> "This account is currently not available."
>
>
> Do I need to be a superuser to run mvn and ant? And if not, can I switch
> to just "tomcat" user like this?
>
> su tomcat
>
> Because when I try, I am prompted for password, which I don't have,
> probably because I didn't create a "tomcat" account manually, so I end up
> with:
>
> su: Authentication failure
>
> How can I run install as a tomcat user?

"This account is currently not available." -- you'll probably find
that the user 'tomcat' has '/sbin/nologin' for its shell. That's
where this message comes from. You can override that by specifying
the shell to use:

sudo su - tomcat -s /bin/sh

You'll probably find that the encrypted password for 'tomcat' is "!"
which means "don't accept *any* password". So you need 'sudo' or
being superuser to 'su' to 'tomcat'. The account effectively has a
password that can never be known or guessed, because nothing will ever
encrypt to "!".

--
Mark H. Wood
Lead Technology Analyst

University Library
Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis
755 W. Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317-274-0749
www.ulib.iupui.edu

[Night Librarian]

Thank you, Mark!

Worked like a charm!