From:	rdparker AT butlermfg DOT org (Parker, Ron)
Subject:	Extended Attributes and File Permissions
23 Mar 1998 15:02:39 -0800 :
Message-ID:	<c=US%a=_%p=Butler_Manufactu%l=BUILDINGS/BLDGSHUB/00087454.cygnus.cygwin32.developers@nttwr2.tower.bldgs.butlermfg.org>
Mime-Version:	1.0
To:	"'cygwin32-developers AT cygnus DOT com'" <cygwin32-developers AT cygnus DOT com>

I agree that extended attributes, EAs, should be off by default. I would
like to see us adopt a file permission mechanism that is more compatible
with windows applications and relied less heavily on EAs.

On NTFS files have the following rights Read, Write, eXecute, Delete,
set Permissions and take Ownership. These are the RWXDPO permissions.

For the sake of example lets use my settings at work. I logon to my PC
as rdparker in the NEXTGEN domain and my primary group is "Domain
Users".

If I created a new file in a cygwin application with 664 access rights,
I would like to see the file's ACL setup so that NEXTGEN\rdparker is the
owner of the file, with the RWXDP NTFS rights set. My primary group,
"Domain Users" would be granted RW access and "Everyone" would be
granted R access. 

Additionally, "Administrator", "Administrators" and "Domain Admins"
would be granted the same permissions as the owner with the O right also
set. This is to simulate the added permissions that "root" always has.

Essentially, the owner of a file would always have the P right for a
file. The "root" user and groups would always have PO rights and other
than that the permissions would map like this:
	UNIX	NTFS
	----	----
	r	R
	w	WD
	x	X
If a file only had the W or D NTFS permission it would still map back
the to the 'w' cygwin permission.

If a file's owner is changed and no other users have explicit rights in
the ACL, the old owner would be removed from the ACL. Regardless of the
number of users with explicit rights to a file the new one would be
added and made the owner of the file.

If a file's group is changed and only one group has explicit rights in
the ACL, besides the administrative groups, the old group would be
removed from the ACL. Regardless of the number of groups with explicit
rights to a file the new one would be added to the ACL.

I would like to know everyone's thoughts on this. If it meets with
positive feelback, I will gladly work on a patch for it.
>-----Original Message-----
>From:	Geoffrey Noer [SMTP:noer AT cygnus DOT com]
>Sent:	Saturday, March 21, 1998 4:26 PM
>To:	cgf AT bbc DOT com
>Cc:	cygwin32-developers AT cygnus DOT com
>Subject:	Re: Fixes to last snapshot
>
>Christopher Faylor wrote:
>[...]
>> I think that it should be a mount option rather than an environment
>>setting,
>> actually.  How about these options:
>> 
>> 	mount
>> 	  -b		"binary" mount
>> 	  -p		posix semantics (case sensitive)
>> 	  -A		do not use extended attributes
>> 	  -r		"r"emovable device (floppy, zip drive)
>> 	  -s		create mount table in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
>
>I'm starting to think that perhaps use of the extended attributes
>should be off by default.  The files that get created are huge and
>there isn't any way that I know of to trim them down to a minimum
>size.  :-(
>
>-- 
>Geoffrey Noer
>noer AT cygnus DOT com

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