AFS is wonderful, but it creates some entirely unavoidable difficulties in
installing software.
I would like to be able to grant the ability to install executables in
/usr/local/pub/bin to selected users. I would also like the volume
containing this directory to be replicated. This creates the following
problems:
1) Any Makefile which installs in /usr/local/pub/bin will normally encounter
a readonly copy of the volume containing it.
2) The software which is installed will not be visible until the volume
containing it is "released".
I suppose one could solve the first problem by having the Makefile install in
"/afs/.cellname/....", but this _could_ have some nasty side effects. For
example, I would hesitate to try it with the X11 distribution.
It could also be solved by having a SUID root utility which swaps the
/usr/local symlink from "/afs/cellname/.../local" to
"/afs/.cellname/.../local".
The second problem requires that I be able to grant "vos release" privilege
to a selected user without granting them a lot of other privilege which I
don't want them to have.
What kind of solutions have been tried for this problem?
-Rick
|Rick Cochran 607-255-7223 [EMAIL PROTECTED]|
|Cornell Materials Science Center [EMAIL PROTECTED]|
|E20 Clark Hall, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853 cornell!msc.cornell.edu!rick|
