From the vault:This article first appeared in issue #1 (October 2000). You'll also find this article on our 10-year anniversary Archive DVD included in issue #120 (November 2010).
With any operating system it is important to ensure that users remain in control of their files and directories and are prevented from tampering with those belonging to other users, or the system. This is what the Linux permissions system is all about, as Jono Bacon explains.