In sftp, how to set the default permission for all files in a folder?

Question

I want to set the default permission for all files in a folder, including newly uploaded ones, to a certain value, say 644, instead of doing "chmod 644" all the time.

Is there any command making this possible?

Answer 1

Alternatively, you can set the umask for all sftp logins in sshd's config file (/etc/ssh/sshd_config on my Debian box). For that add -u 022 to the sftp subsystem line like so:

Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server -u 022

From man sftp-server:

-u umask
     Sets an explicit umask(2) to be applied to newly-created files and directo‐
     ries, instead of the user's default mask.

Answer 2

The permission files are created with depends on your umask. To get 644 permissions, set your umask to 022 (umask 022).

To make this change permanent, put that command in the remote servers ~/.profile (depending on your shell).

Answer 3

The .profile will be in the home directory for your user account. When ssh in you're going to be in your home directory, but you can also cause the shell to change to your home directory by typing:

cd

If you're on linux and your user shell is bash, as most people are, you probably won't have a .profile, but you may have a .bash_profile and .bashrc. Set the umask in either of those files rather than make a .profile.