Re: copy-directory

[Michael Albinus <michael.albinus@gmx.de>]

David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes:

> Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>
>>> Or shall we remove PRESERVE-UID-GID from `copy-directory'?
>>
>> I guess we can remove it for now,
>
> I think that UID/GID should transparently be preserved when copying
> directories whenever possible (in particular when using /sudo:: methods
> or similar).  I don't think that there is an important usage case for
> "don't preserve UID/GID even if you could": it would likely imply
> copying a tree and turning it into root/root possession on today's
> systems.

Although it is not on my top priority, I would second David. A primitive
function `set-file-owner' would not harm, if it is explicitely said in
the docstring, that it works only in the cases the underlying OS
supports it.

And a Tramp file name handler could be called for this, useful at least
for "su" and "sudo" connections.

What I'm curious: does change ownership work for other systems, like
Win32? The smbclient, used in Tramp for "smb" connections, offers a
chown subcommand ... maybe it is applicable only, if there is a Samba
server at the other end.

Best regards, Michael.