[vox-tech] FSTAB Questions

[ME]

Dave Margolis said:
> On Tue, 17 Feb 2004, ME wrote:
>> On a multi-user system with a mounted windows filesystem, you may have
>> desire for everyone to have read access, but only a few to have write
>> access to the mounted windows volume. Here is what I have found to work:
>>
>
> I don't understand this scenario.  What is a dual-boot, mulit-user system?
> If a system is truly multi-user, I would assume that means maximum uptime.
> I don't remember being told I couldn't ssh into a machine I have an
> account on because at the moment somebody had booted it into Windows!

One of the amazing things with software is that it can grow beyond the
confines and limitations that people try to impose on it. Luckily, since
we use Linux, we do not need to "limit" ourselves to only use software as
it was expected.

Consider a laptop that is used at installfests to act as a server of files
for installs, a gateway/masquerading unit, and a shell server for
multi-user access.

Also, consider hybrid systems with wine being used remotely.

Just because a person cannot see a use for something does not mean that a
use does not exist for it. You want more examples? Read on...

> Does anybody out there have dual-boot machines with public access (like in
> a lab or something)?

Our uni Networking and CS labs are this way. 1 Windows install and 2
different Linux installs. Yes, we do utilize the multi-user functions on
these systems in our experiments.

> I assume the machine in question is a single or limited user desktop,
> and that the machine's owner wants the easiest and/or most
> elegant method of mounting the windows drive for read/write access.

Well, we have different machines that have specific purposes. Also, there
are still some systems out there that require the admin to boot to windows

Other cases for having a bootable windows systems:
BIOS Upgrades for the system
SCSI Card Firmware updates that only run from DOS or windows
System hardware initialization for hardware that uses proprietary code to
start the hardware working so that Linux can use it
Being required by the  hardware vendor to run diagnostic software that
only runs in windows before you can have parts replaced

(many more reasons if you think about it)

> A question:
> Couldn't the entry 'user' be left off this next line below with the same
> effect?

I believe that user is an option to permit users to mount the device.

And if you check the option "defaults" it includes "nouser"

I include it in mine so users can mount or unmount if they wish.

>> /dev/hda1  /mnt/dosc vfat
>> defaults,user,auto,uid=win,gid=win,umask=002
>>  0  0
>
> This is a good suggestion for many user access problems.  Creating a
> special group instead of umasking/chmoding some directory or device to 777
> is always a better plan of attack.  This kind of thing has come up before
> on this list...getting sound as a user being a recent example.

The above options were created for this kind of purpose-- leverage the
existing authentication and control to decrease users' need to "reinvent
the wheel."