Comment 18 for bug 118283

With the dmask/fmask fix now applied in gdonf-editor, I've verified that unison-gtk will properly sync files and folders back and forth to a vfat drive. But the fix only works if all files and folders being synced have permissions like "-rw-r--r--" and "drwxr-xr-x", respectively. Plus, if there are any symlinks or other such funky unix-only file types, then the sync will fail ("Operation not permitted").

But this isn't so bad. This fix should cover the needs of 98% of all Ubuntu users, who just want to make backups of their "user files" (let's call them) such as documents, pictures, mp3's, etc, which all will have the default permissions of "-rw-r--r--". That is to say, most users do not use any special permissions on their "work" or personal files. They almost always just go along with the default umask set in /etc/profile. This is because they are almost always the only user on their computer, having no need to worry about group permissions, or sharing files (at the filesystem level) with other Ubuntu users. Also, most Ubuntu users probably do not know what a symlink is, or if they did, they would not have reason to create any. (What's the point when Tracker finds these "user files" so easily now?)

This fix will NOT cover that last 2% of Ubuntu users who might want to manually back up "system files" (let's call them) such as dotfiles, symlinks, and anything else not under /home. In these far-less-common circumstances, you might want to use my suggested workaround above (ie. by storing any files and folders with funky permissions and other "UNIX-ness" inside .tar files, using "File Roller"/"Archive Manager"). Or even better yet, by using a more proper system-wide backup solution, like say BackupPC, when it comes to backing up these "system files."

So I'm not sure if this bug should be closed, since this dmask/fmask fix doesn't "just work" in all circumstances. The end user still needs to be aware if there are any special permissions or "unix-only" file types (like symlinks) that they will try to include amongst the files they want to sync, and if so, then don't use unison-gtk.

Subharo Samanera

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