Finder copying should change file ownership

[DominikHoffmann]

When I use the Finder to copy a file to another user's drop box, it retains the original owner and group settings. In my opinion, both should automatically change to the settings of the target drop box.

Otherwise, the way things currently work, when I log in as the target user, I often can't delete the file from my own drop box.

The point here is that as a GUI Mac OS X user I should be as much as possible shielded from worrying about file permissions.

 

[Jadey]

Sounds like a good idea. Why not drop Apple a feature suggestion for a future OS update?

 

[Zpeat]

No... this must be done at a lower level. The Finder must gain no extra priviledge like this. But I'm with you with the permissions. I thought of something using VFS ("Virtual File System") automatically changing permissions for specials Folders.

 

[scruffy]

Hmm... Maybe - Whenever I log in, every file in my drop box becomes owned by me. The loginwindow program that logs you in already runs as root, so it could do that fairly easily. Disadvantage, if someone uploads something to you via ftp, ssh, or whatever, you have to log out & in again for it to become yours.

Maybe, as Zpeat says, something like a filesystem level control - on copying, the ownership is changed. Problem is, with the lack of quality control going on at Apple right now, I wouldn't want them to be implementing a brand new FS. If there were something like this already developed, that would be another matter.

As a hack, how about just adding a root cron job - every so often, recursively chown everything in each person's drop box directory. You'd have to be careful not to follow soft links into other parts of the file system, but that might work...