WYNTK: UNIX System Admininistrator

Sometimes file security gets in the way of what you want to do.

Your home directory is just as accessible as any other directory you own

	It’s kind of weird that you can look in other people’s home directories. It’s like, you think that if you can’t see it on your screen, then it’s hidden and no one else can. But they can. It’s as if someone could see the coffee cup on my desk from their office across the building.
	--Jane Appleyard

Now and then, you’ll need to edit someone else’s file, and then you learn that you don’t have permission to change it. Or maybe you don’t even have permission to read it. Or you may ask someone else to work on a file of yours and then learn that they can’t do it. Sometimes, you might need to run a program, but get errors such as “permission denied” or “can’t open.”

Security always comes at the price of convenience. If you lock your doors, then you have to find a way to get keys to your occasional houseguests. And if you protect your files, then you have to find a way to lend them to the people you work with.