# Unclear output on incorrect permissions of subdirectory

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unclear-output-on-incorrect-permissions-of-subdirectory/92053>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [July 6, 2017, 8:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unclear-output-on-incorrect-permissions-of-subdirectory/92053 "2017-07-06T08:37:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ricks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ricks/32/77793_2.png) [@Ricks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ricks)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 8:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unclear-output-on-incorrect-permissions-of-subdirectory/92053/1 "2017-07-06T08:37:07Z")

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When one uses a subdirectory (e.g. conf.d) for its prospectors, not clear error message will be generated when (group) permissions are incorrect:

> [root@host filebeat]# ls -hal conf.d/  
> total 8.0K  
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 68 Jul 6 10:28 .  
> drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 40 Jul 6 10:28 ..  
> -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 198 Jul 6 10:26 filebeat-prospector.yml  
> -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 194 Jul 6 10:26 logstash-prospector.yml  
> [root@host filebeat]# /usr/bin/filebeat.sh -v -c /etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml -configtest -d "_"  
> Exiting: No prospectors defined. What files do you want me to watch?  
> [root@host filebeat]# chmod g-w conf.d/_  
> [root@host filebeat]# /usr/bin/filebeat.sh -v -c /etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml -configtest -d "\*"  
> Config OK

It would save one a lot of time when the error message does says more about why it isn't loading the sub-configuration files.

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**Author:** ![exekias](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/exekias/32/28718_2.png) [@exekias](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/exekias)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 9:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unclear-output-on-incorrect-permissions-of-subdirectory/92053/2 "2017-07-06T09:01:52Z")

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This looks like a bug to me, maybe you can open a new issue (if it's not there already)? [https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues](https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues)

Please don't forget to put info on how to reproduce and the version you are using

Best regards

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ricks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ricks/32/77793_2.png) [@Ricks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ricks)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 9:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unclear-output-on-incorrect-permissions-of-subdirectory/92053/4 "2017-07-06T09:19:04Z")

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Created following issue on github:

> <https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues/4621>

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![exekias](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/exekias/32/28718_2.png) [@exekias](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/exekias)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 9:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unclear-output-on-incorrect-permissions-of-subdirectory/92053/5 "2017-07-06T09:29:05Z")

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Thank you for reporting!

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 9:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unclear-output-on-incorrect-permissions-of-subdirectory/92053/6 "2017-08-03T09:29:26Z")

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