“Basic Lesson 1 explained files and permissions. On modern Open
Source computer systems, which are based on the design of older
commercial Unix systems, you can create files that you own, and
only root can read them without your permission. Here in Lesson 2,
we answer the question: Where will your files be?“Note: the terms folder and directory mean the same thing.
That’s because ‘files’ on a computer’s hard drive are just a
collections of electro-magnetic charges held in a pattern. Their
actual location is of little interest to most of us. What we need
to know is where they are ‘located’ logically. The system at its
lowest level gives associations to these collection of
electro-magnetic charges so that the system can allow you to ‘see’
the file in a ‘location’ within a folder or directory. If you
‘move’ a file, all you’ve actually done is given the file a
different association.“Most PCs you buy come with an operating system. We refer to
that as the system ‘bundled’ with the PC. Bundled PC operating
systems allow any user to create or move files just about anywhere
they please. The permissions of the various folders and directories
are wide open. If you feel like keeping your pictures in the
Systems Folder, there’s little to stop you, in spite of it being a
very bad idea. Mucking around in your Systems Folder can destroy
your operating system…”
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Basic Lesson 1: Identities and Permissions(Dec 10, 2003)