can't change ownership on files

[Waldher, Travis R]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rick Stevens [mailto:rstevens at vitalstream.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 4:36 PM
> To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> Subject: Re: can't change ownership on files
> >
> >
> > Ew...
> >
> > Beyond that there is not hack/tweak I can make?
> >
> > Sudo would basically open up chown/chgrp for any file on local disk,
and
> > any filesystem that is mounted with root level access.  Correct?
> 
> Yup.  You still haven't said why they need to chown a file.  There is
> virtually never a good reason to allow that.
> 
> If people need to share a file, make them all part of the same group
and
> grant rwx group to each file or, alternately, allow the users to join
> other groups by putting their usernames in /etc/group or allowing the
> "newgrp" command.

Well, lets just say that's the way it's always been.  I'm picking other
battles at the moment and am not ready to attack something like this.

But one example where at least some people need this.  Is version
control  When a piece of software is "locked" down, they change the user
and group from whomever was working it, to a control user and group name
consisting of the Configuration Management person.

I as an admin do not care to get in the middle of that process, or grant
them the ability to change ownership of files at a root leval through
sudo.