samba - Apr 2001 - Executing arbitrary commands, preexec, etc

Hi there.

First, I'm not subscribed to the list, so if anyone actually replies to
this, please CC me. Thanks.

I have a problem which I feel sure can be solved with cunning use of
Samba, CVS, and the like. Basically, I need a shared document repository
with some sort of version control or sign-off. It has to be accessible
to both Windows and *NIX users.

Currently we have a home-grown system. It's web-based, and allows people
to upload and download documents through our intranet. While this
basically suffices, it's not "intuitive" enough for desktop users
who
are accustomed to tree-based navigation through file-systems. Also it's
not performing any version control (as yet).

After discovering "preexec" and its cousins, it occured to me that a
Samba-shared directory hierarchy containing (Word) documents might
suffice, if I can hook Samba into a cunning enough process. I envisage a
system which can email people when documents have changed, sync a shared
directory with CVS and warn people of conflicts by email... basically
use any (supported) operating system as the GUI to a CVS-controlled
"virtual folder" accessible under Samba.

Has anyone done this, or similar? Does it sound completely insane? Are
preexec et al powerful enough to do this? Perhaps a way of tackling this
is to have preexec perform some sort of locking function, so only one
person at a time can have any particular file open. However, preexec
only kicks in at log-on and log-off, from what I can tell. Is there a
more powerful similar command, which is executed for every read or
write, for example?

I appreciate this is a lengthy email and more than a little vague.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts/comments.

Austin
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Austin Plunkett - Technical Architect <http://www.moneyextra.com>

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