Non-root chown, NFSv4 ACLs

[Drew Leske <drew.leske@computecanada.ca>]

Hi all,

I have been unable to find clear information on this so apologies if =
this is a poor question for this mailing list.

I have an NFS fileserver exporting to a client system where a web =
service manages files on behalf of logged-in users.  In order to do =
this, the service must be able to manipulate ownership of files and =
directories, but it is undesirable to run the web service as root.  The =
web service is given the `CAP_CHOWN` capability through `setcap(8)`.  =
This works fine on a local filesystem but does not work under NFS.

I have replicated this on a test server mounting as either NFS v3 or v4. =
 To test, I make a copy of `/bin/chown` and give it the `CAP_CHOWN` =
capability.  On a local filesystem, I can then, as myself, change the =
ownership of a file to some other user.  On the NFS-mounted filesystem, =
I get `Operation not permitted`.  I have tried this on v3 and v4 to the =
same result.  (On v4.1 I receive =E2=80=9CInvalid argument=E2=80=9D =
whether as an unprivileged user or as root=E2=80=94I have not looked =
further into this as I suspect it=E2=80=99s irrelevant to my current =
problem.)

In looking into ACLs to see if they may provide the answer, I came =
across the NFSv4 ACE permission of `o` for ownership.  This seemed to me =
to be exactly what I needed.  Unfortunately, while this permission =
appears to be accepted, it is not applied and has no effect: subsequent =
calls to `nfs4_getfacl` show no change, and ownership changes are still =
disallowed.  I have tried enabling ACLs and user extended attributes on =
the exported filesystem, but they appear to have no effect.

I understand that NFSv4 ACLs are not fully supported in Linux due to the =
inoperability with POSIX ACLs, however, a Linux-NFS wiki page on ACLs =
(http://wiki.linux-nfs.org/wiki/index.php/ACLs) describing the existing =
mapping of NFSv4 ACLs to POSIX ACLs states that while the mapping is =
imperfect, =E2=80=9Cit accepts most NFSv4 ACLs=E2=80=9D and states the =
only exceptions have to do with explicit denies.

I have looked briefly at the `richacls` project, but that=E2=80=99s not =
provided by either of the OS distributions I may use (Ubuntu or CentOS), =
and I don=E2=80=99t know either of the following:

1. Should it be possible for a user to be able to change the ownership =
of a file or directory over NFS, using Linux `CAP_CHOWN`?

2. Should the NFSv4 ACL =E2=80=9Cownership=E2=80=9D permission be =
settable in my environment?

There are two fileservers.  On one, the exported filesystem is ZFS; on =
the other (where I am doing most of my testing), the exported filesystem =
is ext4.

At this stage I am open to using either NFS v3 or v4, and have tried =
both. =20

A possible workaround is to have the software call an SUID copy of =
`chown` that is only available to the user ID of the web service, but =
this is less desirable.

Any tips, information or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Drew.

----
Drew Leske=20
Senior Software Developer
D=C3=A9veloppeur de logiciel principal
drew.leske@computecanada.ca=20