Duplicate permissions getting added to folders copied from server!

Question

Duplicate permissions getting added to folders copied from server!

When I create a folder on my computer it has an owner, group, and everyone permissions. When I copy it to the server a group ACL is added to the folder's permissions because a group ACL is assigned to the sharepoint and I am a member of that group. So far so good.

But when I copy that same folder back to my computer I get added a second time to the permissions list, and the new entry has custom privileges.

Then, if I copy the folder back to the server, a second group ACL and another entry for me (with custom privileges) are added to the permissions list.

If I then copy the folder back to my computer, I am added a third time to the permissions list (with custom privileges).

If I keep copying it back and forth, the number of duplicate entries in the permissions list rises, and it will eventually fail to copy.

I've looked all over the discussion groups and can't find any solutions. Please help!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5), Copying to and from Mac OS X server 10.6.5

Posted on Dec 17, 2010 11:09 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 3, 2011 9:39 PM in response to Donald Hollinger

I am experiencing the same problem. Copy a file back and forth between AFP server shares a few times and eventually the copy fails because inherited permissions have been duplicated too many times.

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Answer 2

Jan 3, 2011 10:15 PM in response to Aaron Oneal

If I copy from the command line I get the expected permissions. If I copy from Finder by dragging the file from one folder to another, the permissions get duplicated. This happens locally when ACLs are applied as well, not just over AFP.

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2011 8:52 AM in response to Aaron Oneal

So, there IS someone else out there experiencing this issue! That's good and bad at the same time.

If you are experiencing the same problem locally, with no server involved, perhaps the problem lies with the client OS. Our problems began happening right around the time we performed the update to Mac OS X 10.6.5. I used the combo updater. And I don't have any computers that have an earlier version of the OS.

Is the account you're using a local account on the computer or an account defined in an external directory? All our user accounts are created in Open Directory on a server.

When I watch the OS X Server AFP activity logs as I copy, I notice spotlight files being written and deleted. Could spotlight have something to do with it?

This is strange, indeed.

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Answer 4

Rathelm

Level 1

10 points

Jan 5, 2011 10:36 AM in response to Donald Hollinger

Having the exact same issue, but it's not with every machine. I have about a dozen boxes running 10.6.5 and it seems to only happen with a couple of them. Also one of the servers running afp is 10.4.11 with OD running on 10.4.11. Another place I'm at has 5 machines and one of them is having the same issue. They are running the AD/OD deal with that server box being 10.6.5 and AD being ran on a MS Server 2003 (nightmare in it's own right).

So I don't believe it is server specific, but client specific.

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Answer 5

Jan 5, 2011 5:04 PM in response to Donald Hollinger

This happens with local and OD accounts on both the server and a client workstation. I filed bug #8816661 and encourage others to do the same. Perhaps if enough of us report in we can get this tracked down.

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Answer 6

Jan 6, 2011 6:04 AM in response to Aaron Oneal

Thank you for filing the bug! I've scoured the interweb for days and as far as I can tell, me, you and Rathelm are the only ones who are experiencing this issue.

Have either of you tried re-installing the OS? I was about to try that. Only I would stop at 10.6.4 in hopes that the bug was introduced in 10.6.5.

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Answer 7

Jan 6, 2011 9:15 AM in response to Donald Hollinger

I can't test a reinstall without putting my setup out of commission, so if you get a chance to try that I would be curious to know the result. I haven't really installed much software on either machine so I can't think of anything 3rd party that might be causing this.

I don't have Spotlight enabled for the locations I tested in, so it shouldn't be related to the system trying to add a Spotlight ACL as far as I can tell.

I would expect during a copy for the inherited permissions of the source to be dropped and the inherited permissions on the destination to be acquired. Additionally, any explicit permission entries should be maintained.

What I'm seeing instead is:
1. The destination permissions are inherited.
2. The source permissions are inherited (resulting in duplicates).
3. My local ID is added to the ACL and in a peculiar way. Server Manager thinks it is also inherited as opposed to explicit even though the parent folder doesn't have it.

I tested using a mobile account on a workstation and a local account on the server (both administrators). I haven't tested with a managed network account or non-administrator account.

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Answer 8

Jan 6, 2011 9:26 AM in response to Aaron Oneal

I thought this might have to do with external drives so I just tested against the primary system drive with the same result:

1. Created a new folder on the server
2. Assigned inheritable ACL permissions for the first time to the folder using Server Manager
3. Created a new text file and saved it to my desktop.
5. Copied it to the folder. Correct permissions.
6. Copied it back to my desktop, then back to the folder with Finder. Duplicate permissions.

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Answer 9

Jan 6, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Aaron Oneal

What appears to be happening is that Finder is not dropping the inherited permissions on a copy. I just copied the file to a folder that doesn't have an ACL and when I inspect the file permissions it still shows the inherited permissions from the source when I would have expected them to have been dropped. So of course, when I copy that file back to the folder with the ACL it again preserves the source inherited permissions, combines them with the destination, and results in the duplication.

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Answer 10

Rathelm

Level 1

10 points

Jan 6, 2011 10:01 AM in response to Aaron Oneal

Aaron Oneal wrote:
What appears to be happening is that Finder is not dropping the inherited permissions on a copy. I just copied the file to a folder that doesn't have an ACL and when I inspect the file permissions it still shows the inherited permissions from the source when I would have expected them to have been dropped. So of course, when I copy that file back to the folder with the ACL it again preserves the source inherited permissions, combines them with the destination, and results in the duplication.

I came to the same conclusion. Explicit permissions don't seem to be duplicated, but inherited permissions seem to be retained, and then duplicated. Funny though when I made a fresh local non-administrative account (machine is bound to OD) it would not duplicate permissions. It would only happen with OD user accounts. Also it seems to be 10.6 (client) specific. I still have quite a few 10.5.8 machines and they would not duplicate. When I get a chance I want to do a fresh 10.6.3 install and see if that version was doing it, although I don't personally believe so. Also I haven't tested on non-bound 10.6 machines. However it sounds like same effect from your research.

Then again we could get lucky and today's 10.6.6 update will fix it. 🙂

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Answer 11

Jan 6, 2011 10:27 AM in response to Rathelm

Unfortunately, this is still reproducible on 10.6.6. 😟

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Answer 12

Jan 6, 2011 11:07 AM in response to Aaron Oneal

I concur. 10.6.6 did not fix it for me either.

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Answer 13

Jan 9, 2011 10:54 AM in response to Donald Hollinger

Just wanted to say that I've got the same problem.

In addition to the symptoms that others have I would like to point out one additional problem. If you use DreamWeaver to open files directly off the server then you will encounter an error message indicating that the files are locked and can't be modified. If you log in with a local account and then connect to the server magically the problem disappears.

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Answer 14

Jan 10, 2011 10:32 AM in response to David Small

I think I made some progress. I took some time this morning to install 10.6 from my Snow Leopard install DVD. I then ran the 10.6.4 combo updater. I've been testing by creating an empty folder on the client and then copying it to and from the server while monitoring changes in the permissions. Here's what happens using 10.6.4:

1.) Create folder on client desktop where it gets standard posix permissions.
2.) Copy it to a server share point that has a group ACL applied to it (my test user IS a member of this group and the group has read and write permissions). Effective permissions, as viewed by Server Admin, show all permissions except Change Owner.
3.) Copy the folder back to client desktop replacing original folder and a duplicate user entry appears with Custom privileges.
4.) Copy folder back to the same server share point replacing the existing folder. Effective permissions, as viewed by Server Admin, show that the user has ALL permissions.

Copying back and forth never causes group ACLs to be duplicated. Nor does it add any additional user entries beyond the first duplicate created after the first copy back from the server. I've copied the folder back and forth about 15 times and it hasn't failed to copy.

The behavior still doesn't make sense to me. But it is a vast improvement over 10.6.5!

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Answer 15

Jan 10, 2011 3:18 PM in response to Donald Hollinger

I'm seeing the problem with local files using ACLs using 10.6.4

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