Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!wam.UMD.EDU!stripes
From: stripes@wam.UMD.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: What kinds of things would you want in the GNU OS?
Message-ID: <8906272337.AA24210@cscwam.UMD.EDU>
Date: 27 Jun 89 23:37:13 GMT
References: <20037@adm.BRL.MIL> <205@marvin.moncam.co.uk> <1035@riddle.UUCP>
Organization: (only a tad bit)
Lines: 35

I missed the orignal post, and some of the replys.  If this is off base
feel free to flame me in mail, but please don't waste bandwidth by trying
to humiliate me in front of the world...

I would like to see a few extra protection bits in the new Kernal.  A bit
for append-only (the kernal fseeks to the end of the file before each write).
This could be used for all sorts of logs where you are more concerened with
preserveing past history then makeing shure that the new entrys are Ok.
(or for game hi-scores, or for people to drop messages into, or whatever).
It also seem somehow "cleaner" to set the append bit for a directory to
indicate that people can create files here, but not unlink/move other's files
(current use of sticky bit), but I'll leave the meaning of append for
directorys to others...
(it should be settable for user/group/world, and if GNU supports it for
the rwx bits, for any given set of users; if not I have another request:
let unprivlaged account create and maintain groups somehow...)
The append bit would make it a little less nessary to have set-uid programs.

Something that is not as important to me is the ability for Mr root to be
able to flip a bit on a file and have it removed from a users disk-quota.
(i.e. if someone has a log file that gets appended to and it offen gets
HUGE, he might be able to get the "no-quota" bit set).  I'm not very
big on this idea, becuse you can do a sym-link to a non-quotaed system,
but it is once again "cleaner".
I leave the semantics of the "no-quota" bit on directorys up to the
"interested student".

I would also like to be able to have the Kernal send me a signal
whenenver a file (or set of files & directorys) that I ask about
are altered.  This could eliminate polling in a number of places...
-- 
           stripes@wam.umd.edu          "Security for Unix is like
      Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Mutitasking for MS-DOS"
      "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
    "A career is great, but you can't run your fingers through it's hair"