Problems with the lack of a real RO bit with Samba ...

Richard Sharpe rsharpe at richardsharpe.com
Wed Feb 19 22:22:18 GMT 2003


Hi,

I am currently engaged in a debate about the desirability of implementing 
a real RO bit in our file system (we already have HIDDEN, SYSTEM, and 
ARCHIVE bits). The problem with RO is that it requires some real 
semantics, and you have to worry about UNIX semantics when files are 
shared between Windows and UNIX.

The current proposal is to do something like what Samba does, synthesize 
the RO bit with ACLs on the file/object.

Now, Windows has a RO bit and ACLS, and you can have ACLs on the file that 
give everyone WRITE access, while the RO bit gives no one WRITE access.

My question is, is anyone aware of any real application that would be 
confused if the RO bit were synthesized by setting an appropriate ACL on 
the file?

I am aware that this could mean that if an inappropriate ACL were added to 
the file, perhaps by mistake (when setting ACLs on all files in a tree), 
the RO bit could disappear.
 
Regards
-----
Richard Sharpe, rsharpe[at]ns.aus.com, rsharpe[at]samba.org, 
sharpe[at]ethereal.com, http://www.richardsharpe.com



More information about the samba-technical mailing list