Re: Question about file system permissions

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On Tue, 2007-01-02 at 11:08 -0600, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> > 
> > While I'd expect an editor to normally write back to the original
> > file to maintain symlinks, ownership and modes in the case where
> > the file is writable, this sounds exactly right and what the
> > user would do manually himself in case write access is denied
> > and the user has issued the :w! directive.  Without the '!' it
> > should give a 'file is read-only' error.
> > 
> > Set the sticky bit on the directory if you don't want people
> > who don't have write permission on the file to be able to delete
> > it.  Then they will be forced to save under a different name.
> > 
> Symlinks are maintained as long as the name is the same. Hard links
> are another story. I have seen a lot of editors and word processors
> that use the write to a new file, and then rename/delete the
> original file. It tends to protect your work - the original file is
> there in case something goes wrong during the same process. That
> way, the worst you lose is the current edits. But as you have
> noticed, it does not work out as well when editing shared files.

That's reasonable behavior for a word processor, but not for a
text editor that you are likely to use for system files where
maintaining all attributes is important.  There are many situations
where it is impossible for a user with write permission on a file
to recreate its ownership and modes in a different file.  And if
you have gone to the trouble of creating hard links it was probably
specifically to ensure that all names reference the same contents.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx



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