acl_get_file() -- failure mode when ACLs not available on file system?

[Casey Schaufler]

Robert Watson wrote:

> > Not so good. If the file has not had an ACL assigned, either explicitly
> > with acl_set_{file,fd}() or implicitly by a directory default ACL,
> > acl_get_file() ought to return NULL.
> 
> I responded to this comment in my last e-mail to you, and haven't heard
> back on your further thoughts on the matter.

Sorry. Got busy dealing with this & that.

Let's say that I have a collection of systems, some of
which support ACLs and some that don't. I want to be
careful, but also want to distribute copies of a set of
files among them. I choose not to pass along files which
have had ACLs set on them. I need some way to determine
if an ACL's been set on a file. The DRAFT does not specify
information obtainable by stat() for the simple reason that
we were not allowed to by the larger POSIX group. There
needs to be some way to tell whether the u,g,o is an
ACL or mode bits.

> I'm still of the opinion
> that acl_get_file() should return an ACL corresponding to the base file
> permissions in the event that an extended ACL is not present.

You can always get those with stat(), and to my mind should.

-- 

Casey Schaufler				Manager, Trust Technology, SGI
casey at sgi.com				voice: 650.933.1634
casey_p at pager.sgi.com			Pager: 888.220.0607
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