Change Umask User Using Tcsh in XFCE (Debian)

Change Umask for a User using Tcsh in XFCE (Debian)

In Linux, the umask command sets the default file permission for newly created files and directories. The default umask value is 022, which means that newly created files will be readable and writable by the owner, but only readable by the group and others. In this article, we will show you how to change the umask value for a user in XFCE (Debian) using the Tcsh shell.

Tcsh Default Shell Configuration

The umask value can be set in the Tcsh shell by adding a line like this to the user's ~/.cshrc file:

This sets the umask value to 002, which means that newly created files will be readable and writable by the owner, and writable by the group and others. After modifying the ~/.cshrc file, the new umask value will apply to all new shell sessions.

SSH Configuration

However, the new umask value may not apply when the user logs in via SSH. This is because the SSH daemon may be using a different shell or the user's profile file has not been sourced. To ensure that the new umask value is applied when the user logs in via SSH, you can add the following line to the SSH daemon configuration file (/etc/ssh/sshd\_config):

This allows the user to use their shell configuration files when logging in via SSH. After modifying the SSH daemon configuration file, you will need to restart the SSH daemon for the changes to take effect.

XFCE Start Program Way

Another option is to set the umask value in the XFCE start program (/usr/bin/startxfce4). You can do this by adding the following line to the XFCE start program:

This sets the umask value to 002 for all new XFCE sessions. Note that this will only affect new XFCE sessions and will not change the umask value for existing sessions.

• The umask value can be set in the Tcsh shell by adding a line to the user's ~/.cshrc file.
• To ensure that the new umask value applies when the user logs in via SSH, you can enable the PermitUserRC option in the SSH daemon configuration file.
• You can also set the umask value in the XFCE start program, which will apply to all new XFCE sessions.

References

• umask(1) - Linux manual page
• SSH\_CONFIG(5) - OpenSSH Server Configuration File