Xref: utzoo news.admin:7267 news.software.b:3276
Path: utzoo!attcan!lsuc!eci386!clewis
From: clewis@eci386.uucp (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.software.b
Subject: Re: Need HELP!!! with inews/postnews... news dirs.
Message-ID: <1989Oct19.004051.11616@eci386.uucp>
Date: 19 Oct 89 00:40:51 GMT
References: <271@Taliesin.UUCP> <461@hades.OZ>
Reply-To: clewis@eci386.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Organization: R. H. Lathwell Associates: Elegant Communications, Inc.
Lines: 36

In article <461@hades.OZ> greyham@hades.OZ (Greyham Stoney) writes:
>in article <271@Taliesin.UUCP>, Mark@Taliesin.UUCP (Mark Wickersham) says:
>: 
>: In article <454@hades.OZ>, greyham@hades.OZ (Greyham Stoney) writes:
>:> I've recently landed the job of news administrator at our site, and NEED
>:> HELP with inews's weirdness!. For some reason, newsgroup directories are NOT
>:> being created when articles for new newsgroups arrive, or are posted from our
>:   You should listen to your inews.. It's talking to you..  

And he was listening.  Talk about a useless posting.

>But it DOES have permissions to create the thing!.

Actually no, it doesn't.  In System V's which don't have the "mkdir" system
call (or setruid etc.) routine, inews has to invoke the *command* "mkdir".  
Mkdir is setuid root.  Thus, when mkdir runs, it's running effective 
userid == root, and real id == the person that invoked inews (eg: uucp or a 
normal user), *not* realid == news.

But, it discovers that the real userid does not have permission to 
create a directory there (because the parent directory is mode 7<don't care>5
owned by news, and refuses to make it.  Thus the mkdir fails.  Unless you 
have a mkdir() system call, if you're on System V you *must* make the 
directory modes 777 (edit your localize.sh).  

C-news has some *real* wierd stuff in it to get around this.

I think some of the more recent patches to B-news may get around this too.

I've had to get around this on System V for other code.  Yuck!
-- 
He's a consultant:             | Chris Lewis, Elegant Communications Inc.
Lend him your watch            | UUCP {uunet!attcan,utzoo}!lsuc!eci386!clewis
and he'll tell you the time.   | Moderator of the Ferret mailing list.
   Don Munroe, Cosmic Commander|