Let's look at each part of this command:

  • chown root

    This asks the computer to change the file (or directory) owner to the user known as root. If you are not running as the root user, replace root with your user name.

    chown yourusername /usr/lib/cgi-bin

  • /usr/lib/cgi-bin

    This is the directory that root will have ownership of.

    The /usr/lib/cgi-bin directory is where all of the Perl scripts are in a default installation of the Linux computer's Apache Web server software.

    After running this command, the assigned user has add/delete/modify permissions on this directory. This is not to be taken lightly! Be careful not to remove the cgi-bin directory, or your Apache Web server may not be able to run Web-enabled programs.

    TIP: If you had to login as the Root user in step 1, type:

    exit

    then press ENTER

    to relinquish your Super User permissions.