Overview

Sharing files with other users requires a few steps, and to ensure the safety of your files, this process allows the recipient to open up their storage to users for a controlled duration of time. The process outline goes like this:

1. Recipient creates a directory with world-writable permissions

2. Sender copies files from their storage into the shared directory

3. Recipient revokes writable permissions on the directory

4. Recipient now has their copy of the files

1: Recipient creating receiving directory

This example uses <sender> and <recepient> to be replaced by actual ASURITEs.

chmod -R o+rx /scratch/<recipient>
install -d -m 777 /scratch/<recipient>/receiving_dir

The first command makes the recipient scratch directory accessible to others. The second command creates a directory named receiving_dir in the /scratch/<recipient> directory with full permissions (read, write, and execute) for the owner, group, and others.

2: Sender copies files to the receiving directory

chmod o+rwx /path/to/mydirectory_of_files
cp -R /path/to/mydirectory_of_files /scratch/<recipient>/receiving_dir
chmod o-rwx /path/to/mydirectory_of_files

The first line opens the file permissions so others can read, write, and execute this file. The second line makes a duplication of the file and gives it to the receiving directory. The third line reverts the permissions of the original file, but the duplication won’t be affected on the recipient side.

3: Recipient revokes permissions on receiving directory

After sending and receiving files, the recipient can choose to revoke permissions.

chmod o-rwx /scratch/<recipient>
# this stops other users from navigating or changing the files saved here

Additional Help

We also offer a series of Educational Opportunities and Workshops.