protect
Changes permissions or ownership of a VOB object
Applicability
Product |
Command type |
---|---|
VersionVault |
cleartool subcommand |
Platform |
---|
UNIX® |
Linux® |
Windows® |
Synopsis
- protect { [ –cho/wn login-name ] [ –chg/rp group-name ]
- [ –chm/od permissions ] |
[ -chrolemap rolemap-selector ]
}
[ –c/omment comment | –cfi/le comment-file-pname | –cq/uery
| –cqe/ach | –nc/omment ]
{ [ –fil/e | –d/irectory ] [ –r/ecurse ] [ –pna/me ] pname ...
| object-selector ...
}
Description
The protect command sets the owner, group, or permissions for one or more elements, shared derived objects, or named VOB objects. This information is maintained in the VOB database.
The main use of protect is to control access by standard programs to an element or object's data. For example, you can make some elements readable by anyone and make others readable by only their group members.
Modifying the permissions of an element changes the permissions of all of its source containers and (if applicable) its cleartext containers. That is, the change affects all versions, not just the version selected by the current view. There is no way to change the permissions of an individual version.
Some forms of protect affect VersionVault access. For example, a checkout or checkin is permitted only if the user is the element's owner or is a member of the element's group.
View-private objects
This command does not affect view-private objects. For this reason, entering a protect command sometimes seems to have no effect:
- Changing an element's permissions has no effect on its checked-out versions. After you check in the element, your view selects the checked-in version, thus making the updated permissions appear.
- Changing a DO's permission has
no effect on the way the DO appears in the view where it was originally
created or in the dynamic views where it has been winked in. To have
your dynamic view use a shared DO with updated permissions:
- Use protect to change the permissions on the DO in the VOB database.
- Use rm to remove the DO from your view.
- Use clearmake or the winkin command to wink in the DO, with its new permissions.
You can change the permissions on any view-private object (including a checked-out version), with the standard operating system commands.
A winked-in DO is not really a view-private object, but it behaves like one (so that users in different views can build software independently). Moreover, changing the permissions of a winked-in DO actually converts it to a view-private file in your view. See VersionVault Guide to Building Software.
Owner setting
The initial owner of an element is the user who creates it with mkelem or mkdir. The initial owner of a named VOB object is the user who creates it. The initial owner of a derived object is the user who builds it with clearmake. When the derived object is winked in and becomes shared, its data container is promoted to a VOB storage pool. This process preserves the derived object's ownership, no matter who performs the build that causes the winkin.
For a list of operations that can be performed by an element's owner, see the permissions reference page .
Group setting
The initial group of an element or named VOB object is the principal group of its creator. The new group specified in a protect –chgrp command must be one of the groups on the VOB's group list.
See the permissions reference page for a list of operations that can be performed by members of an element's or derived object's group.
Read and execute permissions
The read and execute permissions of an element or a shared derived object control access to its data in the standard manner. The permissions are also applied to all its associated data containers. Read and execute permissions do not apply to non-file-system objects such as branch types and hyperlinks.
Write permission
The meaning of the write permission varies with the kind of object:
For a file element, write permission settings are ignored. To obtain write permission to a file element, you must check it out (see the checkout reference page).
For a directory element, write permission allows view-private files to be created within it. VersionVault permissions control changes to the directory element itself. (See the permissions reference page.)
For a shared derived object, write permission allows it to be overwritten with a new derived object during a target rebuild. (The shared derived object is not actually affected; rather, the view sees the new, unshared derived object in its place.)
Protection of global types and local copies
Changing the protection of a global type or a local copy of a global type changes the protection of the global type and all its local copies. You must have permission to change the protection of the global type.
If the protection cannot be changed on one or more of the local copies, the operation fails and the global type's protection is not changed. You must fix the problem and run the protect command again.
For more information, see the Help.
Restrictions
ACL authorization
- read-info on VOB object
- read-info on object
- AclWrite on object
Non-ACL authorization
You must have one of the following identities:
- Object owner
- VOB owner
- root (UNIX® and Linux®)
- Member of the VersionVault administrators group (VersionVault on Windows®)
Locks
An error occurs if one or more of these objects are locked: VOB, element type, element, pool (nondirectory elements only). For named objects, an error occurs if the VOB, object, or object's type is locked.
Mastership
(Replicated VOBs only) If your current replica preserves identities and permissions, it must master the object being processed. If your current replica preserves permissions only and you use the –chmod option, your replica must master the object being processed. If your current replica preserves permissions only and you do not use the –chmod option, or your current replica is nonpreserving, no mastership restrictions apply.
Options and arguments
Specifying permission changes
- Default
- None.
- –cho/wn login-name
- New owner for the elements or VOB objects.
UNIX® and Linux®: The argument must be in chown(1) format. The owner may be either a decimal user ID or a login name found in the passwd(4) file.
Windows®: The login-name must specify a domainwide user account.
- –chg/rp group
- New group for the elements or VOB objects.
UNIX® and Linux®: The argument must be in chgroup(1) format. The group may be either a decimal group ID or a group name found in the group(4) file.
Windows®: The group must be registered in the domainwide account database.
- –chm/od permissions
- New permissions—owner, group, other (world)—for the elements or
derived objects. Both symbolic and absolute codes are valid, such
as go–x (symbolic) or 666 (absolute). Following is a
summary (UNIX® and Linux® users
may read chmod(1) for details):
Specify symbolic permissions in one or more of the following forms:
[identity]+permission
[identity]-permission
[identity]=permission
where identity is any combination of
u
user/owner
g
group
o
other
a
all (owner, group, and other)
When identity is unspecified, its default value is a.
permission can be any combination of
r
read
w
write
x
execute
To combine the forms, separate them with a comma (no white space). For example, to specify read and write permissions for an element's owner and no access by group or other:
cmd-context protect –chmod u=rw,go-rwx test.txt
Absolute permissions are constructed from the OR of any of the following octal numbers:
400
read by owner
200
write by owner
100
execute (and directory search) by owner
700
read, write, and execute (and directory search) by owner
040
read by group
020
write by group
010
execute (and directory search) by group
070
read, write, and execute (and directory search) by group
004
read by others
002
write by others
001
execute (and directory search) by others
007
read, write, and execute (and directory search) by others
For example, the value 600 specifies read/write permission for the owner and no access by any other identity. The value 764 gives all permissions to the owner, read/write permissions to the group, and read permission to others.Note: This option does not apply to non-file-system objects such as branch types and hyperlinks. - –chrolemap rolemap-selector
- Changes the rolemap associated with an object, thus changing the object's security definition from the existing rolemap to
Event records and comments
- Default
- Creates one or more event records, with commenting controlled by your .versionvault_profile file (default: –nc). See the comments reference page. Comments can be edited with chevent.
- –c/omment comment | –cfi/le comment-file-pname |–cq/uery | –cqe/ach | –nc/omment
- Overrides the default with the option you specify. See the comments reference page.
Specifying the objects
- Default
- None.
- –fil/e
- Restricts the command to changing file elements only. This option is especially useful in combination with the –recurse option.
- –d/irectory
- Restricts the command to changing directory elements only. This option is especially useful in combination with the –recurse option.
- [ –pna/me ] pname ...
- One or more pathnames, each of which specifies an element or shared
derived object. If pname has the form of an object
selector, you must use the –pname option to indicate
that pname is a pathname. An extended pathname
to a version or branch is valid, but keep in mind that protect affects
the entire element. Shared derived objects can be referenced by DO
ID.
If you specify multiple pname arguments, but you do not have permission to change the permissions on a particular object, protect quits as soon as it encounters this error.
- object-selector ...
- One or more named VOB objects. Specify object-selector in one of the
following forms:
object-selector ...
attribute-type-selector
attype:type-name[@vob-selector]
branch-type-selector
brtype:type-name[@vob-selector]
element-type-selector
eltype:type-name[@vob-selector]
hyperlink-type-selector
hltype:type-name[@vob-selector]
label-type-selector
lbtype:type-name[@vob-selector]
trigger-type-selector
trtype:type-name[@vob-selector]
pool-selector
pool:pool-name[@vob-selector]
hlink-selector
hlink:hlink-id[@vob-selector]
oid-obj-selector
oid:object-oid[@vob-selector]
policy policy:policy-name[@vob-selector] rolemap-selector rolemap;rolemap-name[@vob-selector] vob-object-selector vob:pname-in-vob or vob:/vobtag) The following object selector is valid only if you use MultiSite:
replica-selector
replica:replica-name[@vob-selector]
Processing of directory elements
- Default
- Any pname argument that specifies a directory causes the directory element itself to be changed.
- –r/ecurse
- Changes the entire tree of elements including and below any pname argument specifying a directory element. UNIX® or Linux® VOB symbolic links are not traversed during the recursive descent. (Use –file or –directory to restrict the changes to one kind of element.)
Examples
The UNIX system and Linux examples in this section are written for use in csh. If you use another shell, you may need to use different quoting and escaping conventions.
The Windows examples that include wildcards or quoting are written for use in cleartool interactive mode. If you use cleartool single-command mode, you may need to change the wildcards and quoting to make your command interpreter process the command appropriately.
In cleartool single-command mode, cmd-context represents the UNIX system and Linux shells or Windows command interpreter prompt, followed by the cleartool command. In cleartool interactive mode, cmd-context represents the interactive cleartool prompt.
- Add read permission to the
file element hello.c, for all users.
cmd-context protect
–chmod +r hello.c Changed protection on
"hello.c". - Change the group ID for all
elements in the src directory to user.
cmd-context protect –recurse –chgrp user src
Changedprotection on "src".
Changed protection on "src/cm_fill.c".
Changed protection on "src/convolution.c".
Changed protection on "src/hello.c".
Changed protection on "src/msg.c".
Changed protection on "src/util.c". - Change the owner of the branch
type qa_test to tester.
cmd-context protect
–chown tester brtype:qa_test Changed protection
on "qa_test". - Allow users in the same group
to read/write/execute the shared derived object hello,
but disable all access by others. Use an absolute permission specification.
cmd-context protect
–chmod 770 hello Changed protection on
"hello". - Change protections on
a policy object.
cmd-context protect
–chrolemap NewDevRolemap policy:DevPolicy - Change protections on a file element.
cmd-context protect
–chrolemap NewDevRolemap ./mydir/abc.txt
See also
protectvob, chmod(1), chown(1), chgrp(1), passwd(4), group(4)