begin quoting Tracy R Reed as of Sat, Nov 26, 2005 at 01:36:29PM -0800:
> Stewart Stremler wrote:
> > Of course, the _simple_ [to me] approach -- "chmod go-rwx ~username" -- does
> > exactly the same sort of thing without the corresponding explosion of
> > groups. When the users are ready to expose some of their files, they
> > can choose to set 'em appropriately.
>
> Explosion of groups? It just makes /etc/group a bit longer which I never
> notice anyway. I don't think I have ever once been inconvenienced by the
> RH way of doing groups.
When I have just three real users, it's not a problem either*. But on
systems such as described in the rationale -- big enough to have
multiple development teams -- it *does* get annoying.
In short, It Does Not Scale Well.
I always find it enlightening to check on the biggest UNIX system I have
an account on...
rohan% wc -l /etc/passwd /etc/group
22273 /etc/passwd
2910 /etc/group
25183 total
rohan%
I got annoyed dealing with a mere thirty-five user-private-groups,
(and the dozen subsequent normal groups that I would need anyway).
Three thousand groups sounds a lot nicer than twenty-thousand!
> > "Says something when the vendor assumes you're stupid, eh?"
>
> Says even more when the vendor is right! :)
Hee hee! There is that. You don't always get to choose your userbase.
> Actually, most Linux users
> are newbies due to the rapid growth so they aren't stupid, just
> ignorant. I was there once too so I appreciate this sort of thing.
Everyone starts off ignorant. I'm not so sure it's a good idea to
*cater* to ignorance, however. Better to work on providing good newbie
documentation than to adopt the more technical solution... although
computer geeks tend to prefer the technical solutions.
-S. '"Your self-esteem is enhanced by remaining an ignoramus?" -Hobbes' Stremler
* One way or another.
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