Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 16:06:16 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Owens <owensc@enc.edu> To: Julian Elischer <julian@whistle.com> Cc: J Wunsch <j@uriah.heep.sax.de>, FreeBSD hackers <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, ben@narcissus.ml.org Subject: Re: multi-group file access techniques / directory hardlinks Message-ID: <Pine.FBS.3.93.961226155820.24466G-100000@dingo.its.enc.edu> In-Reply-To: <32C2DF8C.167EB0E7@whistle.com>
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On Thu, 26 Dec 1996, Julian Elischer wrote:
> Charles Owens wrote:
>
> > 1. The file system does in fact support directory hardlinks. (This is
> > true at least to some extent, since the '.' and '..' entries are,
> > in fact, directory hardlinks.)
>
> see below.
>
> >
> > 2. Certain key tools do _not_ understand directory hardlinks. The ones
> > that I know of are fsck, rm, and rmdir.
> >
> > 3. The official FreeBSD stance (that I seem to be hearing) that
> > directory hardlinks are unsupported is based on:
> >
> > a. the insufficient status of the tool support (previous point)
> > - and/or -
> > b. the fact that directory hardlinks are dangerous in the
> > hands of the uncareful.
> >
> > Am I correct here? Would someone in the know provide clarification?
>
> the KERNEL now disallows the 'link' operation on directories.
Ok... that's very clear, but a bit terse. :-) What I'm digging for above
is an expression of the rationale for this disabling (_not_ that I
disagree). I certainly can see that directory hard linking should be
disabled as long as support in the basic tools (rm, rmdir, fsck) is
incomplete (otherwise it's a major head-ache for the user). ...But if the
tool support was made complete I'm not so sure that this kernal disabling
is the way to go. Perhaps there could be a options flag in the kernal
config file to force directory linking to be allowed for those who need
it.
>
> >
> > As I stated in my original posting (on Dec 18), my goal is to come up with
> > an optimum technique for allowing multiple groups controlled access to a
> > file tree. (To my surprise, I had very little response to this posting,
> > which deals with what I think is a rather interesting challenge. If you'd
> > like me to repost, please holler). Essentially I'm trying to achieve a
> > subset of the functionality offered by Access Control Lists as implemented
> > in AIX et al.
>
> I never saw the original posting.
I've reposted it...
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Charles Owens Email: owensc@enc.edu
"I read somewhere to learn is to
Information Technology Services remember... and I've learned that
Eastern Nazarene College we've all forgot..." - King's X
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