Re: chown and symbolic links

[Pavel Roskin <proski gnu org>]

Hi, FrИdИric!

> Hi. I'd like to know why and when the behavior of chown with
> symbolic links was modified in Midnight Commander.

I remember a discussion about it.  This must be somewhere in the archives
of the old list.  I don't know where they are.

> ~2 years ago I was able to chown a symbolic link. Now chown
> modifies the library or any other file the symbolic links
> points to.

My guess is that somebody confused chmod and chown.  Mode of symbolic
links is ignored.  Ownership is not.  You cannot remove other users'
symlinks from sticky directories like /tmp.  Neighter can you edit them.

> How do I get the old behavior ?

Fix MC.  Seriously, we should improve "Advanced chown" to the point where
"Chown" and "Chmod" can be removed.  This means support for suid, sgid and
sticky flags as well as fixing the problems like the one you are
describing.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin