OpenChmod

Recursively fix file permissions across a project tree in one command.

pychmod walks a directory and applies sensible defaults — 0755 for directories, 0644 for regular files, 0755 for scripts and executables — so you don't have to chain find ... -exec chmod ... invocations or remember which mode goes where. Scripts are detected by extension or by #! shebang, even when there is no extension at all.

Features

• One pass, three modes: separate permissions for directories, files, and executables.
• Smart script detection: known extensions (.sh, .py, .pl, .rb, ...) plus shebang sniffing for extensionless files.
• --dry-run to preview changes and --check to fail CI when permissions drift.
• Glob-based --include / --exclude filters, repeatable.
• Optional symlink following, off by default.
• Zero runtime dependencies. Pure Python, 3.10+.

Why not just find -exec chmod?

The classic recipe needs three passes and assumes you know which files are scripts:

find . -type d -exec chmod 0755 {} +
find . -type f -exec chmod 0644 {} +
find . -type f \( -name "*.sh" -o -name "*.py" \) -exec chmod 0755 {} +

pychmod does the same in one walk, classifies scripts by shebang as well as extension (so an extensionless ./build with #!/usr/bin/env bash gets the right mode), and adds --dry-run plus --check so you can preview changes or fail CI on drift — none of which find gives you for free.

Installation

pip install pychmod

Quick start

Apply defaults (dirs=0755, files=0644, exec=0755) to a project tree:

pychmod /path/to/project

Preview without writing:

pychmod /path/to/project --dry-run

Verify in CI — exits non-zero if anything drifts:

pychmod /path/to/project --check

Usage

pychmod [-h] [-p DIR] [--dirperms DIRPERMS] [-f FILEPERMS] [-x EXECPERMS]
        [-e PATTERN] [-i PATTERN] [--files-only] [-s] [-v] [-n] [--check]
        [DIR]

Examples

Tighten down a webroot:

pychmod /var/www --dirperms 0750 --fileperms 0640 --execperms 0750

Skip VCS and cache directories:

pychmod /path/to/project -e .git -e __pycache__ --verbose

Only retouch Python and shell scripts:

pychmod /path/to/project -i "*.py" -i "*.sh"

Only fix C/C++ source files, leave directories untouched:

pychmod /path/to/project -i "*.c" -i "*.h" -i "*.cpp" --files-only

Follow symlinks (use with care):

pychmod /path/to/project --symlinks

Use as a pre-commit / CI gate

Add a --check step to your pipeline so a stray chmod 777 never lands on main:

- name: Verify file permissions
  run: pychmod . --check -e .git

Development

git clone https://github.com/Junbo-Zheng/OpenChmod.git
cd OpenChmod
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest