GNU bug report logs - #17495
chgrp: mention of being a member of the target group

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#17495: closed (chgrp: mention of being a member of the target
 group)
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 17:58:02 +0000

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Your message dated Thu, 19 Jun 2014 18:57:41 +0100
with message-id <53A32495.3000005 <at> draigBrady.com>
and subject line Re: bug#17495: chgrp: mention of being a member of the target group
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #17495,
regarding chgrp: mention of being a member of the target group
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


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17495: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=17495
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From: Wouter Thielen <wouter <at> morannon.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: chgrp: mention of being a member of the target group
Date: Thu, 15 May 2014 09:49:23 +0900

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Hi,

Here is a very common usecase:

sudo chgrp www-data dir

in a deployment script.

I have always used "sudo" with this because I didn't know why I was getting
an operation permitted error when doing so. Until I found out that if the
effective user is a member of the target group www-data, the sudo isn't
needed.

The Wikipedia clearly says that:

The *chgrp* (from *ch*ange *gr*ou*p*)
command<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_(computing)> may
be used by unprivileged
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_(Computing)> users
on Unix-like <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix-like> systems to change the
group associated with a file system object (such as a file, directory, or
link) *to one of which they are a member*.

I am wondering why the chgrp manpage or info pages do not mention anything
about that. It would be very helpful to add that piece of very crucial
information to the manpage/info pages.

Best regards,

-- 
Wouter Thielen

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From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Wouter Thielen <wouter <at> morannon.org>
Cc: 17495-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17495: chgrp: mention of being a member of the target group
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 18:57:41 +0100

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On 06/19/2014 02:34 PM, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> The variation on some systems where users can give away files
> is discussed at the "APPLICATION USAGE" and "RATIONALE" sections of:
> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/chown.html
> 
> We should mention this _portable_ behavior in the info doc at least
> for chown and chgrp

Done in the attached.

thanks,
Pádraig.

[chgrp-docs.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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