Why such "loose" permissions?

[Kurt Wall]

Consuming 0.8K bytes, Michael Hipp blathered:
> Why are users files, by default, created with such loose permissions?
> 
> Here's the typical perms automatically given to a new file created in my 
> $HOME directory:
> 
> -rw-r--r--    1 michael  michael         2 Dec 11 09:12 testfile.txt

The umask is 022. These permissions seem acceptable to me. Other
people can't modify your files, but they can look at them -- not
an unreasonable assumption on multi-user system.
 
> For reasons unknown (to me), often the perms end up being even worse: 
> -rw-rw-r--

The umask is 002.

> Is there some good reason to have the default permissions so loose?

> This is a RH9 box, if it matters. I've noticed this behavior on every 
> box I've loaded lately, even those configured as a "server". Is this a 
> RH thing, or are others distros similar?

Red Hat uses a so-called user private group scheme, so the permissions
aren't as loose as they seem. The user michael, for example, is the 
only member of the group michael.

Kurt
-- 
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