Jeffrey Hutzelman wrote:
> There are a number of dimensions to think about here.  Obviously a set
> operation brings up the question of which properties are read/write vs
> read-only; in fact, there may be some properties which are writable only
> by root and others which can be written by any user.
> 
> Per-user (presumably, per-pag) properties are an interesting idea, but
> unless we have an immediate need, I think it might be better to defer it
> for now.  If necessary, we can always define a new interface for per-user
> properties at some point in the future.

I am having a small heart attack reading the above text.  Per-user or
per-pag properties have the potential to raise significant help desk
support issues.  While the concept is quite powerful it can very easily
be used to give user's rope to hang themselves.

The fs commands provide a number of get/set operations.  The set
operations affect the global behavior of the cache manager and are
therefore restricted to execution by 'root' on UNIX or the "AFS
Administrator" on Windows.

If we were to provide per-user/pag properties we would very quickly
be asked to apply the functionality to the sysnames list, crypt, server
preferences, storebehind, and on Windows UseDNS, HideDotFiles, timeout
values, locking options, character set, and those are just the ones that
come to mind at the moment.

while the power of such flexibility is tempting, is the added complexity
and help desk costs really worth the benefit?

please shoot this idea dead now.

Jeffrey Altman

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