Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: BSD file system
Message-ID: <20258@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 19 Oct 89 11:08:37 GMT
References: <1344@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 23

In article <1344@accuvax.nwu.edu> rico@dehn. (Rico Tudor) writes:
>	(1) How are permissions set on a symbolic link?

They are completely irrelevant---nothing ever uses them.  (You can view
them with lstat, or `ls -l' [which uses lstat], but the kernel ignores
them entirely.)

>	(2) How are access & modification times set on a symbolic link?

As with the permissions, these are irrelevant (only the ctime matters,
and only for backups).

>	(3) What purpose is served by taking the group ID of a newly
>		created file from the parent directory, rather than the
>		process?

Given that `the process' may be in up to 8 (4.2BSD) or 16 (4.3BSD)
groups simultaneously, there is no single correct choice based on
the process alone, hence the parent directory rule.
-- 
`They were supposed to be green.'
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@cs.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris