My set up: : I have a Mac running OS 10.4 set up as a server running on the network at the shop where I work. Server only accessed locally (192.168...). Sever is running php 5.2.4 and MySQL. I know just enough php and 0 unix/linux/anything about computers, so feel free to dumb it down for me!

What is happening : I am trying to write a script in php that creates a folder on the server. Later that folder would be accessed by a network user to transfer files into the folder manually. And then even later php would create a backup of the folder and its contents. I can create the folder just fine, but my problem comes down to user permissions. No matter what I try I cannot get the folder to be created through the php script and be writable by the network user. [ I go to 192.168.1.X/create-folder.php, folder gets created, perms don't allow network users write access. ]

What I've tried :
This has user 'www' as owner. Group read only, Others read only.

This has user 'www' as owner. Group read only, Others read only too! Got permission denied error but creates folder - seems perms set to 644 (since user creating directory isn't root?)

Logged into server directly, created a folder w/ perms of 777 in hopes that I could copy that folder and rename using
And although it copied, the perms got set to 644.

Many minor variations of the above and google, google, google, google. Gettin nowhere
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After writing this up, I'm guessing that I need to create the folder as root user so the permissions can get set to 777. However, I was never able to get the exec function to work in php, probably because of user permissions, and in my mind even if I did get the exec fn to work I can't sudo because I would be prompted for a password, which the exec fn couldn't get passed.

I'm looking for anything that will change the permissions for me, in any sort of ass-backwards way, so long as it be automatic and immediate (by immediate I mean executed right after the folder is created. I'm not trying to rush you into giving me advice).

I appreciate any advice or suggestions you can give!

If the file is getting copied, can you try throwing chmod() at it, to alter the permissions to the desired 777? <-- this would in your php script, not at the command line.

Yep, that fixed all my problems. Hahaha. I guess I glossed over that one and went straight to trying chown(), which didn't working. I guess I thought mkdir($dir, 0777) didn't work so why would chmod!? Wow, I feel sheepish and friggin relieved at the same time. Thx No 2!

chown() won't work because that only changes the owner. Since www created it, & is changing ownership, this does nothing for the access privileges.

If you need to know what those numbers mean (& might explain why that didn't fix your situation) check this tutorial.

Either way, glad to see that worked for you.