Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!ed
From: ed@mtxinu.COM (Ed Gould)
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.4bsd
Subject: UID mapping
Keywords: UID mapping, RFS
Message-ID: <901@mtxinu.UUCP>
Date: 28 Jun 89 00:58:34 GMT
References: <1120@servax0.essex.ac.uk> <10406@smoke.BRL.MIL> <1839@auspex.auspex.com>
Reply-To: ed@mtxinu.COM (Ed Gould)
Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley
Lines: 16

>Separate issue(s): 1) RFS-style mapping has, I think, been implemented
>by Cray, and 2) RFS also has, I think, the same notion of a "nobody" UID.

There are several issues associated with UID mapping.  One of the
potential problems with RFS, which claims to preserve *all* of the Unix
filesystem semantics, is that set-uid programs can fail to work
properly unless the maps are both one-to-one and invertable.  On big
servers with lots of administratively unrelated clients - the situation
where UID mapping is most needed - this may be a real problem if users
make their own set-uid programs and store them on the server.

-- 
Ed Gould                    mt Xinu, 2560 Ninth St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
ed@mtxinu.COM		    +1 415 644 0146

"I'll fight them as a woman, not a lady.  I'll fight them as an engineer."