Directories and Paths A directory is a collection of files, and is itself a file Directory names follow the same naming conventions as file names The path name for a file or directory consists of the names of every directory that precedes it in the directory structure. Some important directories The following apply to the SP, not necessarily to other UNIX systems. When a file is created, it inherits the userid used to create it, and the userid's primary group. Groups on the SP are usr, faculty, staff, grad, and class. The umask is the file creation mask, whose bits indicate the permissions to be denied.
Permissions are on by default, unless suppressed by umask.
A umask of 000 would mean that for new files, the read and write permission bits are on for all. A umask of 777 would mean all permissions are off. On UConn's SP system, we have restricted it for privacy. To reset the umask, specify an octal value. SUID, SGID, and sticky bits For files, execute can be s rather than x, indicating that either the userid or the group are inherited during execution.