[Digikam-users] Digikam and read-only files

[Jakob Oestergaard]

rcuql3k02 at sneakemail.com wrote:
> Hi Gerhard,
> 
> Thanks for your response.
> 
>> This is impossible by nature of Linux!
> 
> Are you able to expand on this for me?  I don't really understand why it's impossible.  (Sorry!)
> 
> What I would like to see is that Digikam checks before deleting a file (or moving a file) and if the file is marked "read-only" then it will not complete the delete/move operation.  Is that possible somehow?
> 

The operating system kernel (Linux), not the application (DigiKam) 
manages file system permissions.

Therefore, if permissions do not work as you expect, it is either your 
understanding of the operating system kernel, or, the operating system 
kernel, that are at fault. It cannot ever be the application.

In this case, it's not a bug in the Linux kernel either.

Please see:
  http://www.dartmouth.edu/~rc/help/faq/permissions.html

Here you fill find the following snippet, among many other good 
explanations of how these things work:
"On a directory, write access means you can add or delete files"

So, in other words; if the directory is writable to you, you can change 
the contents of the directory. Files are the contents of a directory, so 
if you can modify the directory, you can delete the files in it.

If you are not satistifed with the default Linux kernel file system 
permission model, there are other security models available. SELinux for 
example, is a very flexible system that will allow you to have much 
finer-grained security policies enforced in the system.

But it is not a DigiKam problem  :)

-- 
Best regards,
    Jakob Oestergaard
    [The SysOrb Team]