Necessary user, group and permissions for core updates

What user, group and permissions of files and folders I need for core updates?

Test setups

I tried everything the manual recommended me to. Here are some test setups I used, the setup was recursively used on the WordPress installation.

• Case A: The owner has read/write permissions.


• Case B: The owner and group have read/write permissions.

Every permission case above was tried with the following user and group setup.

1. Owner: Apache | Group: Apache


2. Owner: Apache | Group: FTPuser


3. Owner: FTPuser | Group: FTPuser


4. Owner: FTPuser | Group: Apache

Test results

• 
  

  1A:

  
  

  
  Could not create directory.
  
  

  
  

  ---



• 
  

  1B:

  
  

  
  Could not create directory
  
  

  
  

  ---



• 
  

  2A:

  
  

  
  Could not create directory.
  
  

  
  

  ---



• 
  

  2B:

  
  

  
  The update cannot be installed because we will be unable to copy some files. This is usually due to inconsistent file permissions.: wp-admin/includes/update-core.php
  
  

  
  

  ---



• 
  

  3A:

  
  

  
  Warning: touch(): Unable to create file /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1CYtemE because Permission denied in /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1KqJ6yR on line 155
  Warning: unlink(/home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1CYtemE): No such file or directory in /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1KqJ6yR on line 457
  Download failed.: Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable.
  
  

  
  

  ---



• 
  

  3B:

  
  

  
  Warning: touch(): Unable to create file /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1CYtemE because Permission denied in /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1KqJ6yR on line 155
  Warning: unlink(/home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1CYtemE): No such file or directory in /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1KqJ6yR on line 457
  Download failed.: Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable.
  
  

  
  

  ---



• 
  

  4A:

  
  

  
  Warning: touch(): Unable to create file /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1CYtemE because Permission denied in /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1KqJ6yR on line 155
  Warning: unlink(/home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1CYtemE): No such file or directory in /home/FTPuser/domains/http://ift.tt/1KqJ6yR on line 457
  Download failed.: Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable.
  
  

  
  

  ---



• 
  

  4B:

  
  

  
  The update cannot be installed because we will be unable to copy some files. This is usually due to inconsistent file permissions.: wp-admin/includes/update-core.php
  
  

  
  

  ---

These updates always have been a big issue for WordPress, I would like to clarify this let's find a general solution! The installation is hosted on a CentOS 6.6 server running with DirectAdmin.