[Samba] Permission on sharing file/folder

[James Knott]

John H Terpstra wrote:
> On Tuesday 14 June 2005 13:07, James Knott wrote:
>>John H Terpstra wrote:
>>>Please help me to understand how that would work. If I can modify a file
>>>I can delete its contents - after all, that is what modification permits.
>>>If I can modify the contents of a file by deleting it, how does that
>>>differ from not being able to delete the file? Perhaps I am really dense
>>>here.
>>>
>>>Under UNIX write capability means deletion capability. How does one
>>>implement modification without deletion in a UNIX environment?
>>Modifying a file and deleting it are two entirely different things.  If
>>you create or delete a file, you're modifying the file that describes
>>the directory contents, not the contents of the directory.  The most you
>>can do, if you can't delete the file, is reduce it to zero bytes.
>>However, you won't be able to delete the file.
> 
> I believe I understood the mechanics. My question remains: If I can delete the 
> contents of a file, but not delete name entry in the directory, what have I 
> gained? Please explain to me the net benefit of not being able to delete the 
> directory entry.

It means you can modify a file, but not create or delete one.  This
might be useful in shared directories, where several people can make
changes only to existing files.