title: What permissions are needed to run Magento?
body: <p>The <a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/1_-_installation_and_configuration/installing_magento_via_shell_ssh" rel="noreferrer">Magento documentation tells us to do this</a>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>chmod -R o+w media var
  chmod o+w app/etc
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>That gets us past the installer.</p>
  
  <p>Next, I'd like to download a theme from Magento Connect.  Unfortunately, that is throwing an error that seems to be permissions related.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Settings has not been loaded. Used default settings
  Config file does not exists please save Settings
  Warning: Your Magento folder does not have sufficient write permissions.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What permissions are needed to get past that?</p>
  
  <p>I'm also seeing an error about the connection string.  </p>
  
  <pre><code>Connection string is empty
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>While we are at it, what are the total set of permissions that must be set to make Magento fully functional (and secure)?</p>
  
  <p>I realize Magento != Wordpress.  It's so close to being as install-friendly as Wordpress.  Just a little more! </p>