Write permission on binary/executable files: Are they necessary?

Question

I thought:

echo hello world > /usr/bin/firefox

would display the message in the browser. Nothing happened. Then I tried:

echo hello world > /usr/bin/kwrite

to see if kwrite opens with 'hello world' typed ahead. Again, nothing happened. Then after trying to execute both commands:

computer:~$ kwrite
/usr/bin/kwrite: line 1: hello: command not found
computer:~$ firefox
/usr/bin/firefox: line 1: hello: command not found

Doing ls -l /usr/bin/:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root     182576 2012-08-21 06:42 apt-ftparchive
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root     116996 2012-08-21 06:41 apt-get
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root    2151596 2011-10-20 21:45 aptitude
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root       1939 2011-10-20 21:45 aptitude-create-state-bundle
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root       3007 2011-10-20 21:45 aptitude-run-state-bundle
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root       7336 2012-08-21 06:41 apt-key
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   20 2012-12-29 10:41 /usr/bin/firefox -> /opt/firefox/firefox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5476 2010-11-17 04:58 /usr/bin/kwrite
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root     181104 2010-02-16 01:40 zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root   root       1184 2011-01-21 23:49 zxpdf

The binary files in /usr/bin (and other bin folders) on my system, had at least the user write permission on (?). So what I effectively did was write to the executables 'hello world', although /usr/bin/kwrite was a binary exec while /opt/firefox/firefox was a shell script

So it's clear that executable files are prone to this type of accident. So I want to ask if the write permission is even necessary. I want to turn it off however I want to make sure I am not missing something here.

Answer 1

First of, you must have tried echo hello world > /usr/bin/kwrite as root since all w or write bits are

off -rwxr-xr-x for user and group. For your second question, only root has the right permission to write to

most binary files unless it was compiled and installed by normal user.

You should brush up on your file permission notations as well. here is a great link

Answer 2

The binary files have user write permission, because the user is root. Only root can write to /usr/bin.

You should really, really brush up on not doing simple stuff (like using browsers and word processors) as root. See Limiting the Damage here: http://www.howtogeek.com/124950/htg-explains-why-you-shouldnt-log-into-your-linux-system-as-root/

Also, you'll probably notice there are a number of .sh files in /usr/bin. These could conceivably be edited by root if necessary.