Entry

Security? Python files chmod 705 on FreeBSD so on shared servers other users can read source. Solution? PHP allows chmod 700 on PHP files.

Dec 1st, 2004 04:39
Nat Tuck, Paul Milling,

I'm assuming that you're taking about Python CGI scripts. The
requirement that the script be readable by the webserver is a general
problem with CGI in a shared server environment. There are various
solutions to the problem.
The most "correct" solution to this issue that I know of is to use the
SuExec module for Apache (or some similar feature in other servers, if
such a thing exists). 
With SuExec, not only can you can set your CGI permissions to 700, the
scripts run as the user who owns them. This solves a bunch of other
security issues as well. 
PHP doesn't have any feature like this as far as I know unless you
downgrade it to "CGI Mode", which seems to miss the point.