WordPress can't move files (Nginx, HHVM)

Question

I have a WordPress setup using HHVM & NGINX on Ubuntu 14.04 that can't moves files when uploaded.

Nginx is running as www-data.

Files are all owned by deploy:deploy. Where www-data is a member of deploy & deploy is a member of www-data as well.

If files are set to 777 upload works as expected. 775 is giving an error. Leads me to believe it is a permissions error.

Any idea what I've done wrong setting up groups and users?

Answer 1

I also wrestled with this problem. Here's a basic solution to help point you in the right direction:

---

Step 1: find the default root folder of your web server

• For example /var/www

Step 2: give the user www-data full ownership of web server folder. (Use -R to make change recursive.)

• sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/webserver/root

Step 3: restart NGINX

• sudo service nginx restart

---

Note: The above will solve your problem; though it exposes your server stack to number of potential vulnerabilities. Please check the links below for further info:

File Permissions

I strongly suggest you set permissions back to 755, to avoid any unnecessary security issues. Check out the Wordpress codex info on file permissions.

• link: http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress#File_Permissions

Linux permissions

Also, check the link below for further info on setting up users and groups. It provides a good breakdown of Linux permissions, privilege separation etc. Should cover all your needs...

• Link: https://serverfault.com/a/357109/293491

---

You're definitely looking in the right area, the answer is much closer than you might think!