Re: what's next for the linux kernel?

[Horst von Brand]

Marc Perkel <marc@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[...]

> What you don't understand is that Netware's permissions mechanish is
> totally different that Linux. A hard link in Netware wouldn't inherit
> rights the way Linux does. So the user would have rights to their hard
> link to delete that link without having rights to unlink the file.

OK, so a "hard link" isn't (because it has separate permissions than the
original). Sorry, watered-down symlinks don't cut it. Or just by linking
the file into my place I now have rights to modify it? The later idea makes
my skin try to crawl away...

> This is an important concept so pay attention. Linux stores all the
> permission to a file with that file entry.

You are completely right: This is an extremely central concept to
everything Unix.

>                                            Netware doesn't. Netware
> calculates effective rights from the parent directories and it is all
> inherited unless files or directoies are explicitly set
> differently. So if files are added to other people folders then those
> people get rights to it automatically without having to go to the
> second step of changing the file's permissions.

Which is a very clear explanation of how broken it all is. No wonder
NetWare is no more. Files whose persmissions change depending on which way
you look at them is a nightmare. Sure, you /can/ manage that for small(ish)
setups by brute force, but it soon has to break down.
-- 
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                   User #22616 counter.li.org
Departamento de Informatica                     Fono: +56 32 654431
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria              +56 32 654239
Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile                Fax:  +56 32 797513
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