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
