multiple clients changing read-only flags (version control)

[Kenneth Porter]

On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 04:52:23 +1100, "EFT.Eric Devolder"
<eric.devolder at eft.be> wrote:

>However, many RCS tools (like MKS) plays a lot with Read-Only flags. And if
>user_a was the last user to change an archive and to extrat it on a network
>drive, only user_a will be able to reextract this archive because of
>read-only access problem.

I had the same issue when I put my PVCS archives on a Samba server
(1.9.18p10 over RH5.2 Linux). I solved it by putting the archives in a
share with "force user = pvcs" and "force group = pvcs". I also added
"valid users  = @pvcs" and added legal users to the pvcs group.

At the time, I hunted around on Intersolv's Knowledge Base and the only
thing remotely relevant was a caution to turn off the access-changing
capability if one was storing version control archives on an NFS
server. This is one rare case where Samba beats NFS.

I think the Right Appoach requires an architectural change in the
version control system: One must run a setuid VC server that handles
all the access control. Intersolv did this by creating a rather
expensive Unix-based server available only on the pricey Unices like
Solaris. I believe CVS (free!) also can work this way, and I've been
toying with migrating my Intersolv clients to a CVS system. Just have
to find time to learn CVS myself.


Ken
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