madler@pooh.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) (01/17/91)
(I tried to send this directly, but the mail bounced. Sorry to those bored with the whole tar thing.) In article <1991Jan16.221406.1979@csn.org!datran2> smb@csn.org!datran2 writes: >In fact I have seen the behavior as a normal user. One recent ftp tar >archive that I extracted created a subdirectory owned by a uid not defined >on my system and with no write permission for group or other. tar then Really? How normal a user were you (what groups)? How can tar do this? It doesn't sound good--chown() should fail if you're not the superuser. Mark Adler madler@pooh.caltech.edu
shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) (01/17/91)
madler@pooh.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) writes: >Really? How normal a user were you (what groups)? How can tar do this? >It doesn't sound good--chown() should fail if you're not the superuser. Not necessarily. Numerous implementations allow an ordinary user to give away his files through chown. Existing tar variants typically distinguish between actions by a superuser and actions by an ordinary user. The "p" and "o" options are not universally supported. I wrote a brief report years ago on how one might be bitten by tar restorations - after we ourselves had been bitten - under System III and V.