Re: Thinking outside the box on file systems

[Phillip Susi <psusi@cfl.rr.com>]

Kyle Moffett wrote:
> Going even further in this direction, the following POSIX ACL on the 
> directories will do what you want:
> 
> ## Note: file owner and group are kmoffett
> u::rw-
> g::rw-
> u:lsorens:rw-
> u:mtharp:rw-
> u:mperkel:rw-
> g:randomcvsdudes:r-
> default:u::rw-
> default:g::rw-
> default:u:lsorens
> default:u:mtharp:rw-
> default:u:mperkel:rw-
> default:g:randomcvsdudes:r-


The problem that I have with this setup is that it specifies an ACL on 
EACH file.  Yes, you can set a default on the directory for newly 
created files, but what if I want to add a user to the access list for 
that whole directory?  I have to individually update every acl on every 
file in that directory.  Also if you move a file created elsewhere into 
that directory, it retains its existing permissions doesn't it?  I would 
rather just add a new ace to the directory itself which specifies that 
it applies to the entire tree.  Then you only need to store a single acl 
on disk, and only have to update one acl to add a new user.