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From: vda <vda@port.imtp.ilyichevsk.odessa.ua>
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: x bit for dirs: misfeature?
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 16:22:53 +0000
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Message-Id: <01111916225301.00817@nemo>
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Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org

Everytime I do 'chmod -R a+rX dir' and wonder are there
any executables which I don't want to become world executable,
I think "Whatta hell with this x bit meaning 'can browse'
for dirs?! Who was that clever guy who invented that? Grrrr"

Isn't r sufficient? Can we deprecate x for dirs?
I.e. make it a mirror of r: you set r, you see x set,
you clear r, you see x cleared, set/clear x = nop?

Benefits:
chmod -R go-x dir (ensure there is no executables)
chmod -R a+r dir (make tree world readable)
mount -t vfat -o umask=644 /dev/xxx dir
	(I don't want all files to be flagged as executables there)

These commands will do what I want without (sometimes ugly) tricks.
For mount, I can't even see how to do it with current implementation.

What standards will be broken?
Any real loss of functionality apart from compat issues?
--
vda
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