[saga-rg] Re: comment on SAGA strawman doc.

Andre Merzky andre at merzky.net
Tue Jul 26 17:02:34 CDT 2005


Hi Peter, 

since we have not approached ACLs yet, and since I am not
really knowladgable about security, I have no answer.

So, playing ping pong, what would you propose as a sensible
approach?  Others on the list any comments?

Cheers, Andre.


Quoting [Peter Kunszt] (Jul 26 2005):
> 
> hi andre
> 
> ok! about consistency, you are right, that should be discussed separately.
> however, i have another - related - issue with copy: security semantics.
> 
> if you issue a copy command and the source is not owned by you but
> you have read permission (say through ACLs). and it is a recursive copy;
> how do you propagate permission information to the target? do you make
> everything owned by the person whe issues the copy (which may be a service!)
> or do you copy the ACLs and the permissions along with the file (ie metadata
> copy)? how do you make sure that the same users exist then on the target 
> site?
> 
> can of worms opened...
> 
> cheers
> peter
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Andre Merzky" <andre at merzky.net>
> To: "Peter Kunszt" <peter.kunszt at cern.ch>
> Cc: "Andre Merzky" <andre at merzky.net>; "Simple API for Grid Applications 
> WG" <saga-rg at ggf.org>; "Kalman Kovari" <Kalman.Kovari at cern.ch>
> Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 2:25 PM
> Subject: Re: comment on SAGA strawman doc.
> 
> 
> >Quoting [Peter Kunszt] (Jul 21 2005):
> >>
> >>hello andre
> >>
> >>maybe the doc we were looking at was not the latest one..
> >>where is the one that is the current reference? we got our
> >>copy from gridforge..
> >
> >The latest version is at our wiki: http://wiki.cct.lsu.edu/saga/
> >
> >On GridForge was a good version as well, the one we wanted
> >to have reviews for.  So the excuse of having given you an
> >old copy does not work it seems ;-)
> >
> >
> >
> >>>>>  - The examples are sometimes more misleading than
> >>>>>  useful...
> >>>
> >>>Hmm, we are not sure why that is.  Are they too complex?
> >>>Not focused enough?
> >>
> >>our (certainly subjective) impression was that they are
> >>too simplistic and not enough explanations are given.
> >>specifying most possible errors would be also quite useful
> >>and a motivation what problem the example at hand is
> >>supposed to solve. maybe again it was an early document.
> >
> >Point taken I think.  Currently the examples are pretty much
> >just pieces of C++ code which are supposed to illustrate the
> >useage of parts of the API.  Seems to work well for the
> >authors, but not so well for the reader.  Ok, thanks.
> >
> >
> >
> >>>>>  - Interface NSDir: what are the semantics of the copy
> >>>>>  method? of getName and getURL?
> >>>
> >>> Hmm, we actually hoped that the semantics is well
> >>> defined.  If the copy call returns w/o error, a copy of a
> >>> file will exist on the target location.
> >>
> >>in the doc we had, it was just listed, no extra text was
> >>there stating what happens if something goes wrong...
> >
> >For example for copy, the current version says (the flags
> >are defined elsewhere):
> >
> >-------------------------------------------------------------
> > Methods for operation on namespace entities:
> > - copy
> >   Purpose: copy the entry to another part of the namespace
> >   Format:  void copy          (in  string         source,
> >                                in  string         target,
> >                                in  array<copyFlags,1>
> >                                                   flags);
> >   Inputs:  source:             name to copy
> >            target:             name to copy to
> >            flags:              flags defining the operation
> >                                modus
> >   Outputs: none
> >   Throws:  BadParameter:       name(s) and/or flags are
> >                                invalid
> >            NoSuchFile:         name(s) do(es) not exist
> >            NoSuccess:          flags inhibited successful
> >                                operation
> >   Notes:   - if the target is a directory the source entry
> >              is copied into the directory
> >            - it is an error if the source is a directory
> >              and the 'Recursive' flag is not set.
> >            - if the target already exists, it will be
> >              overwritten if the 'Overwrite' flag is set,
> >              otherwise it is an error
> >            - default flags set is
> >              {NoOverwrite, NoRecursive}
> >            - Overwrite and NoOverwrite cannot be specified
> >              at the same time
> >            - Recursive and NoRecursive cannot be specified
> >              at the same time
> >            - similar to the 'cp' command in Unix shells,
> >              as defined by POSIX
> >-------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >The old version should have been similar I think (have to
> >check).  It does indeed not tell you much about consistency,
> >only refers to POSIX shell cp.
> >
> >About consistency we had a lengthy discussion, with the
> >aggreement that the consistency model is to be defined and
> >documented by the implementation.  The API spec itself does
> >not assume any specific consistency model, as we feel that
> >(a) POSIX consistency is not achievable within reasonable
> >effort/performance, (b) if the user assumes the worst (no
> >consistency), he will still be able to make good use of the
> >API, and (c) reality will be somewhere in the middle.
> >
> >Would you see problems with that approach?
> >
> >Cheers, Andre.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >-- 
> >+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
> >| Andre Merzky                      | phon: +31 - 20 - 598 - 7759 |
> >| Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) | fax : +31 - 20 - 598 - 7653 |
> >| Dept. of Computer Science         | mail: merzky at cs.vu.nl       |
> >| De Boelelaan 1083a                | www:  http://www.merzky.net |
> >| 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands    |                             |
> >+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
> >



-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Andre Merzky                      | phon: +31 - 20 - 598 - 7759 |
| Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) | fax : +31 - 20 - 598 - 7653 |
| Dept. of Computer Science         | mail: merzky at cs.vu.nl       |
| De Boelelaan 1083a                | www:  http://www.merzky.net |
| 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands    |                             |
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