Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!rutgers!mcnc!rti!dg-rtp!larrybud.rtp.dg.com!goudreau From: goudreau@larrybud.rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Newsgroups: comp.unix.internals Subject: Re: non-superuser chown(2)s considered harmful Message-ID: <1990Dec11.173123.3828@dg-rtp.dg.com> Date: 11 Dec 90 17:31:23 GMT References: <1990Dec7.171501.18028@mp.cs.niu.edu> <18792@rpp386.cactus.org> <1990Dec8.184047.22221@mp.cs.niu.edu> <1990Dec09.043647.25826@iecc.cambridge.ma.us> <5733@labtam.labtam.oz> Sender: usenet@dg-rtp.dg.com (Usenet Administration) Reply-To: goudreau@larrybud.rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC Lines: 26 In article <5733@labtam.labtam.oz>, iand@labtam.labtam.oz (Ian Donaldson) writes: > johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: > >Does anyone really do quota accounting by the UID of the file? > >Consider the following scenario: User A creates a large file. > >User B links to it. User A then deletes the original link. If > >you charge by uid, user A is charged for the file even though she > >has no control over it any more, and might not even be able to see > >that it exists, depending on B's directory protections. > > This is a silly argument. For user B to write to the file, he must > have been granted permission by user A. Thus it is user A's > responsibility in the first place that the subsequent space charging > is against him. So who said anything about writing? Most of the files that I access on a daily basis are read or executed, but not written. Consider the case of user A's file above. It could be an X Windows application program (which tend to be rather large unless shared libraries are used). User B could get plenty of use out of that file without ever needing to write to it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA