Apache: www-data and regular user both need write access
Problem
When setting up a website, both Apache (user www-data) and a regular user need write access to certain files. If a file is owned by one with user rights 664 (-rw-rw-r--), it isn't accessible by the other.
Solution 1. Create common group webdev
From: http://blog.chriskankiewicz.com/post/158/setting-up-an-ubuntu-web-server/
"You’ll need to set up some file permissions to allow Apache to read from, and you to write to, the web directory. This will be accomplished by changing the owner of the web directory, adding the Apache user and your user to this group and setting the guid bit forcing all new files/folders to have the same group permissions."
Create a new group:
$ sudo addgroup webdev
Change the group of your web directory:
$ sudo chgrp -R webdev /var/www/ $ sudo chmod -R g+rw /var/www/
Set the guid bit on all folders in your web directory:
$ sudo find /var/www -type d -exec chmod g+s {} \;
Add Apache to the webdev group:
$ sudo usermod -a -G webdev www-data
Add your user to the webdev group:
$ sudo usermod -a -G webdev <user_name>
Workaround
If the shell-login user has sudo-access, he can access all files as the www-data user:
$ sudo -u www-data CMD
