Re: [boost] Re: [1.32 Release] Draft tarballs are available

From: Tarjei Knapstad (tarjei.knapstad_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-11-01 12:07:45

On Mon, 2004-11-01 at 16:04, Aleksey Gurtovoy wrote:
> Vladimir Prus writes:
> > Aleksey Gurtovoy wrote:
> > 
> > >> The first two archives does not give write permissions to the user (for
> > >> the unarchived files).
> > > 
> > > That's intentional. After all, normally you shouldn't be modifying
> > > anything in the distribution. Or should you?
> > 
> > No unix source package I ever downloaded had read-only files. 
> 
> Could our long-time unix users confirm/negate this experience?
> 

Confirmed.

> > That gives no protection, really. 
> 
> It prevents you from accidental editing/deletion.
> 

But that's putting the protection in at the wrong level in unix-land.
For a system install, the files would be installed to a system wide
location by the root user and thus only be writable by root. If I'd like
to download boost and put it somewhere in my $HOME, I expect to be able
to do whatever I like to the files. I.e. experiment with the code (this
would not affect other users).

> > If I unintentionally remove some files, I can just reinstall. 
> 
> I'd rather be saved from that.
> 

You are if you install boost as root (as you should if you're installing
it system wide on any unix installation).

Access control is more fine grained on unix - read only is only
applicable as a "security measure" on windows IMHO.

Cheers,
--
Tarjei