Subject: Good info from Tech Republic
From: Barsalou (mbarsalou@aidea.org)
Date: Tue Jul 09 2002 - 19:55:28 AKDT
Here is some good info I got from Tech Republic:
DON'T OVERLOOK EXT2'S EXTENDED ATTRIBUTES
Although the hype these days is primarily about journaling file systems,
there's something to be said about the old ext2 file systems. For
instance, while ext2 isn't as helpful as a journaling file system in terms
of recovery time, it contains extended attributes that are useful for the
security conscious or those concerned with file system safety.
There are a few extended attributes, such as "A", that tell the system not
to update the file-access time. This is a useful feature for laptops.
Another is the "S" attribute, which tells the system to always synchronize
the file with the physical storage system. The benefit is a higher level
of system integrity, but at the expense of system performance.
The "a" attribute makes a file append-only; in a directory, this means you
can create or modify files, but you cannot remove them. Finally, the "i"
attribute tells the system that the file cannot be modified; in a
directory, files can be modified but not created or deleted.
These extended attributes are only a small set of attributes; however,
they are very handy. To make use of them, you should use the chattr and
lsattr utilities. The chattr utility sets or removes these extended
attributes, while the lsattr utility (like the ls command) lists the
attributes assigned to a particular file.
To make a file immutable (or unchangeable), even by the root user, set the
"i" attribute in the following way:
chattr +i some_special_file
Performing a regular ls on this file won't reveal that it's
immutable--only lsattr can tell you that. To remove any extended
attributes, simply prefix the attribute with the minus symbol, like this:
chattr -S some_file
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2a23 : Tue Jul 09 2002 - 19:55:28 AKDT