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Subsections


12. Shared documents

Shared documents are documents that different users can manipulate on-line via the web interface of Sympa, provided that the are authorized to do so. A shared space is associated with a list, and users of the list can upload, download, delete, etc, documents in the shared space.

WWSympa shared web features are fairly rudimentary. It is not our aim to provide a sophisticated tool for web publishing, such as are provided by products like Rearsite. It is nevertheless very useful to be able to define privilege on web documents in relation to list attributes such as subscribers, list owners, or list editors.

All file and directory names are lowercased by Sympa. It is consequently impossible to create two different documents whose names differ only in their case. The reason Sympa does this is to allow correct URL links even when using an HTML document generator (typically Powerpoint) which uses random case for file names!

In order to have better control over the documents in the shared space, each document is linked to a set of specific control information : its access rights. Security is thus ensured.

A list's shared documents are stored in the ~sympa/expl/mylist/shared directory.

This chapter describes how the shared documents are managed, especially as regards their access rights. We shall see :


12.1 The three kind of operations on a document

Where shared documents are concerned, there are three kinds of operation which have the same constraints relating to access control :


12.2 The description file

The information (title, owner, access rights...) relative to each document must be stored, and so each shared document is linked to a special file called a description file, whose name includes the .desc prefix.

The description file of a directory having the path mydirectory/mysubdirectory has the path mydirectory/mysubdirectory/.desc . The description file of a file having the path mydirectory/mysubdirectory/myfile.myextension has the path mydirectory/mysubdirectory/.desc.myfile.myextension .

12.2.1 Structure of description files

The structure of a document (file or directory) description file is given below. You should never have to edit a description file.

title
  <description of the file in a few words>

creation
  email        <e-mail of the owner of the document> 
  date_epoch   <date_epoch of the creation of the document>

access
 read <access rights for read>
 edit <access rights for edit>

The following example is for a document that subscribers can read, but which only the owner of the document and the owner of the list can edit.

title
  module C++ which uses the class List

creation
  email foo@some.domain.com
  date_epoch 998698638

access
 read  private
 edit  owner


12.3 The predefined scenarii

12.3.1 The public scenario

The public scenario is the most permissive scenario. It enables anyone (including unknown users) to perform the corresponding action.

12.3.2 The private scenario

The private scenario is the basic scenario for a shared space. Every subscriber of the list is authorized to perform the corresponding action. The private scenario is the default read scenario for shared when this shared space is created. This can be modified by editing the list configuration file.

12.3.3 The scenario owner

The scenario owner is the most restrictive scenario for a shared space. Only the listmaster, list owners and the owner of the document (or those of a parent document) are allowed to perform the corresponding action. The owner scenario is the default scenario for editing.


12.4 Access control

Access control is an important operation performed every time a document within the shared space is accessed.

The access control relative to a document in the hierarchy involves an iterative operation on all its parent directories.

12.4.1 Listmaster and privileged owners

The listmaster and privileged list owners are special users in the shared web. They are allowed to perform every action on every document in the shared space. This privilege enables control over the shared space to be maintained. It is impossible to prevent the listmaster and privileged owners from performing whatever action they please on any document in the shared space.


12.4.2 Special case of the shared directory

In order to allow access to a root directory to be more restrictive than that of its subdirectories, the shared directory (root directory) is a special case as regards access control. The access rights for read and edit are those specified in the list configuration file. Control of the root directory is specific. Only those users authorized to edit a list's configuration may change access rights on its shared directory.

12.4.3 General case

mydirectory/mysubdirectory/myfile is an arbitrary document in the shared space, but not in the root directory. A user X wishes to perform one of the three operations (read, edit, control) on this document. The access control will proceed as follows :

12.5 Shared document actions

The shared web feature has called for some new actions.

12.6 Template files

The following template files have been created for the shared web:

12.6.1 d_read.tpl

The default page for reading a document. If a file, displays it (if viewable) or downloads it. If a directory, displays all readable subdocuments, each of which will feature buttons corresponding to the different actions this sub document allows. If the directory is editable, displays buttons to describe it, upload a file to it and, create a new subdirectory. If access to the document is editable, displays a button to edit the access to it.

12.6.2 d_editfile.tpl

The page used to edit a file. If a text file, allows it to be edited on-line. This page also enables the description of the file to be edited, or another file to be substituted in its place.

12.6.3 d_control.tpl

The page to edit the access rights and the owner of a document.


next up previous contents index
Next: 13. Bounce management Up: Sympa Mailing Lists Management Software Previous: 11. List configuration parameters   Contents   Index
root 2001-06-05