Sharing a Project Directory in AFS

If you are working on a project with a partner, you may find it helpful to set up one directory that you can both read and write, so that you can work on the project together. You can do this using the access control features of AFS.

Suppose that you have two partners, A and B. We will have user A create a directory that user B can also access.

First, user A should log in and create a directory for the project as normal:

mkdir cse20211/lab10

Then, use the fs setacl command three times. The first command gives user B permission to read and write the project directory. The second and third commands give user B permission to navigate to that directory:

fs setacl cse20211/lab10 B write
fs setacl cse20211       B l
fs setacl .              B l

Next, user B should log in normally. To change to the shared directory, user B can use this command:

cd ~A/cse20211/lab10

(Note that tilde character preceding A.) Now, user B can see and manipulate all of the files in that directory.