permissions of external harddrives should be ignored

[j^]

Binary package hint: gnome-volume-manager

it should be possible to mount external hard disk with filesystmes that have user id based permissions in a mode overwriting those.
i.e. if you use an external hard disk with ext3 or hfsplus on more than one computer,
where you happen to not have the same user id, i.e. two ubuntu boxes or one ubuntu and one mac os x box,
it is impossible to work with the external disk because one constantly needs root access to fix the permissions on ubuntu.
(os x offers a way to mount external hard disks in a mode ignoring file permissions)

for that matter it would be important to have an option to mout the disk width i.e. "uid=,gid= umask=007"

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Not a bug in nautilus

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

At the moment, the kernel does not provide any mount option for overriding permissions on Unix file systems. I actually think that this is a good thing, too. If you want to carry around a drive and use it on several different computers with different users, then just don't put an Unix file system on it.

[j^ (j)]

could you point me to a filesystem that i could use? i have files larger than 4GB i need long filenames and it should be possible to read and wirte to it on linux and mac os x. if such a file system exists, i am happy to use it. even one that would just work on linux would be nice.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[nokangaroo (nokangaroo-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Yesterday I was actually booted from my ubuntu backup disk. It contains a gparted clone of my internal partition (32-bit Jaunty on an iMac 7.1), an added swap partition and an hfs partition (formatted as hfs with MacOS. Ubuntu recognizes it as hfs+ but I can write to it - usually. Sometimes the permissions "cannot be determined" and then sbackup does not work, which is a massive bug that should be fixed). I could tell that I was booted from the disk because the LED kept flickering; also it is one of those noisy WD drives so I could hear it was working. Besides, my internal volume has changed since and looks different.

It was all an accident - my internal ubuntu partition was temporarily unbootable - but obviously there is no technical obstacle that prevents booting ubuntu from external USB volumes, even on the Mac; the problem seems to be ubuntu's half-baked access control management. UBUNTU DEVELOPERS: PLEASE NOTE THAT A PISSED-OFF USER IS A SECURITY RISK, NOT A SECURITY GAIN. If this mandatory selinux stuff isn't working, please replace it with something that does work (selinux was developed by the NSA, right? That can't be good).

I cannot repeat the experiment because my internal volume boots again and I am not willing to delete it, but I should like to know if there are any other users who have experienced similar things.

[A.Kromic (akromic)]

It's kinda stretch of an idea, but I'd love to have that...