Re: tlug: Why group-per-user? [was: ""]

[Shimpei Yamashita <shimpei@example.com>]

You(Stephen J. Turnbull) wrote:
>     >> What's the purpose of existing of such a group if only one user
>     >> belongs to it?
> 
> First, if you want to add users, you just ask your admin to do it.  On 
> GNU/Linux, of course that's usually you.  One could create an sgid
> script to do it, too, I think.  This is a typical way to manage web
> sites.  The person(s) who upgrade the software and decide global
> policy have access to the webmaster account; people who are trusted
> enough to help edit ordinary users' data but not with the system
> itself do not get the password to the webmaster account, but are
> included in the webmaster (or www-data) group.
> 
> Second, you can password the group (passwd -g $GROUP); in that case,
> all you need to do is give the password to people you want to include
> in the group and they can use newgrp(1) or sg(1).  A bit clumsy, but
> how often do you su?  I do it all the time.  A passworded group is
> less risky than passing out the root password....

Incidentally, this is where having an ACL is really nice; you can set
up your own little "group" anytime you like without dealing with your
local BOFH. This isn't much of a problem with a small-scale
installation, but it is a royal PITA for a college campus network
admin to have to create new groups every time CS101 class partners
want to share files among each other and no one else--and, worse,
delete them afterwards in a safe way.

-- 
Shimpei Yamashita   山下晋平      <http://www.submm.caltech.edu/%7Eshimpei/>
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