Sharing files from one user's home directory to another

[Thomas Goodwin]

On my main user account, I have tons of files in my home directory that I want to share with another user without having to have a copy in both the Public directory and the Movies directory, for example. The other catch is that the other user is for logging by ftp access - so whatever way that is setup must be visible from an FTP-site's perspective. My curiosity is this:

 

Is there a way to make a symbolic link appear in this root directory that would lead to a directory in my home (or somewhere else on the system, like another mounted drive) that would contain files that are 'read'-able to everyone? I have yet to try messing with Ln to see if it even exists on the system, so I figured I would ask here.

 

Basically, this would be good for when I also start adding other local users. That way anyone can have access to the same clump of files on an external drive or in my root so that I don't have to go through all this mess of giving out my personal password to my account just so they can access a few files. That's stupid - and unsafe in the long-run no matter how much I trust my friends.

 

Anyways, any ideas? Will symbolic linking work? What kind of folder permissions should I setup?

 

I'm running OS 10.4.5 on an IntelliMac in case it matters at all.

 

Thanks,

Thomas

[i5hawn]

i don't believe this is possible. the only way to access files from one user to another is to put them in the drop box/public folder.

[Bearcat]

I have links setup for family members in my home network. I have afp and windows sharing activated.

 

If the user account is "martha" as an example, then in martha's home directory, put a symbolic link to the volume directory you want to give martha access to, like:

 

ln -s /Volumes/Disk1/marthabackup ./marthabackup

 

Then when martha connects to the share she is connected to her home, but can follow the marthabackup link to /Volumes/Disk1/marthabackup.

 

Hope that helps

[Thomas Goodwin]

Excellent, so my theory was right and this will be almost as simplistic as doing this in Linux or Solaris. Almost because in those OS's I know the directory structure ;-). I'll have to poke around a bit before I know exactly where to stick it and setup permissions.

 

Thanks for your post! I appreciate it.

 

-Thomas