Re: copy-file without preserving the owner

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Patrice,

> For some code in Texinfo (not public yet), I needed to copy a file.  I
> used the copy-file Gnulib module code, but I did not want to preserve
> the owner and group as it is better in my case if the file owner is the
> same as the generated output files owner.   So I modified the code not to
> keep the owner.

In Gnulib, we can accommodate the needs of particular packages. But in this
case, you'd need to convince me first. My thoughts are:

  * In most cases, the copy of a file should have the same confidentiality
    restrictions as the original file. A copy that assigns a new owner and
    group usually is a confidentiality risk, no?

  * In your patch, you disable the copying of owner and group but keep the
    copying of the ACL. This makes no sense to me, because on many platforms
    the owner and group are part of the ACL. So, you might end up with
    either
       owner and group copied despite your wishes,
    or
       an inconsistent ACL.

Can you please describe your use-case:
  - What are the owners+groups involved?
  - What is the expected workflow on the copied file? Who is supposed to
    view it? Who is supposed to edit it?

Bruno