[Samba] permissions, and maybe a violation of the least surprise principle

[Nick Couchman]

>
>
> >> What happens to these permissions if I migrate the data (say, via
> >> rsync) to another server? Seems like all the Windows ACLs will be lost
> >> unless I transfer the relevant database as well.
> >
> > So long as rsync transfers EA's then all will work.
>
>
>
> That's kind of the question, I guess. For ext4 the xattrs are stored in
> a separate data block referenced from inodes via inode.i_file_acl*
> https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Disk_Layout#Extended_Attributes
>
> I suppose rsync could/would be smart enough to follow this pointer to
> the xattrs.
>
>
Yes, rsync will copy/synchronize extended attributes and POSIX ACLs.
However, keep in mind that POSIX ACLs and EAs are different things, and so
copying over one does not necessarily mean the other is copied over - if
you've applied Windows-type permissions that are stored in xattrs, and you
successfully copy over files with the EAs intact, the underlying POSIX ACLs
will not be copied/updated unless you make sure that you specifically copy
those over. The linkage between the POSIX ACLs and the EAs is done
completely by Samba and not by any Linux-level linkage between the two.


> This got me interested, so I'm running some tests.  For starters, if you
> `scp -p` files from an XFS filesystem to ext4, POSIX ALC's are not
> preserved:
>
>
> root at kraken:/EM/21sep30a# getfacl 20210930_YD04_68_004_0.0_14.08.45.eer
> # file: 20210930_YD04_68_004_0.0_14.08.45.eer
> # owner: jonesimages
> # group: jonesimages
> user::rwx
> user:abril:r-x
> user:jones:rwx
> user:cryosparc_user:r-x
> user:afb938:r-x
> group::r-x
> group:cns-joneslabusers:r-x
> mask::rwx
> other::---
>
>
> root at kraken:/EM/21sep30a# scp -p  20210930_YD04_68_004_0.0_14.08.45.eer
> pgoetz at frog.my-domain.com:/home/pgoetz/temp
>
> [pgoetz at frog temp]$ getfacl 20210930_YD04_68_004_0.0_14.08.45.eer
> # file: 20210930_YD04_68_004_0.0_14.08.45.eer
> # owner: pgoetz
> # group: pgoetz
> user::rwx
> group::rwx
> other::---
>
>
> Looks like rsync'ing from XFS to ZFS doesn't preserve POSIX extended
> ACLs, either. Damn.  I need to find an ext4 system I'm using POSIX ACLs
> on; maybe ext4 performs better in this regard.
>
> Has anyone tested to see if copying files from ext4 to ext4 preserves
> POSIX extended ACLs? Under some conditions (say same UID's on each system)?
>
>
What flags are you using with rsync? There's a flag specifically for ACLs
(-A), and one for xattrs (-X) so you have to make sure to specify those. I
generally have very good success with copying ACL across filesystems,
though I cannot say for sure that I've tried from XFS to ZFS, etc. My rsync
command generally looks like this:

rsync -aADXHv <source> <destination>

Also, one thing I've found with rsync regarding ID mapping is this:
* If the user account exists on the destination system, ownership will be
properly changed so that the username matches. So, if account "nick" has ID
1001 on system A, and account "nick" has ID 2001 on system B, if I rsync
from system A to B, the account "nick" will own all of the files on System
B that the account owned on system A, regardless of the fact that the
numeric ID does not match.
* If the user account does not exist on system B, or files are owned by a
UID that has no user on system A, then the ownership will just be copied
over numerically. So, if account "nick" exists on system A with ID 1001,
and there is no account "nick" on system B, then the files will be copied
over with owner 1001. Also, if files on system A have an owner ID of 1002
with no account, those will just be copied over with the same numeric ID to
system B.


> If I have to restore a 1PB filesystem from backup and need to
> reconstruct all the ACLs by hand it's going to be a sad, sad day.  Week,
> I meant; possibly month. Actually infinite, since I'll probably quit and
> will open a bakery instead. Bread doesn't have ACLs.
>
>
I like bread. With butter. I will visit your bakery.

-Nick