On Sat, 2005-07-16 at 19:41 -0700, Jesse Keating wrote:
On Sat, 2005-07-16 at 13:26 -0400, Colin Walters wrote:
> All you do is drop files you want accessible publicly into your ~/Public
> folder, and everyone else on the local area network can see them when
> you go to "Computer->Network". No need to know about IP addresses,
ssh,
> servers, etc. Now if you're not on the same local network it won't
> work, but if you are it can replace ssh/sftp/ftp in a much much better
> way.
>
Sigh...I'm amazed that people react so violently to something I think is
so obviously useful. I'll answer your email in reverse order:
I strongly object this EVER making it into core without some
administrative method of restricting access or the ability to 'turn it
off'.
I believe startup is keyed off a GConf preference. When we integrate it
into the upcoming GNOME session services framework the GConf-keying
should happen automatically.
Heck, I'd rather not see it there period. User workstations are
not for sharing files. A file server is designed and useful for that.
The sysadmin in my shudders w/ terror.
Right, so next time I go to a coffee shop with a friend and want to
share files, we'll just haul along my enterprise file server...
Seriously, even at work at Red Hat's Westford office where we do have a
file server it's been really useful. I don't use the file server
because the normal usage requires I have a NFS home directory, and NFS
sucks with laptops. I want to be able to unplug my laptop and go.
It's significantly easier for me to drag and drop a patch into my
~/Public directory and tell my coworkers to find it on
"Computer->Network->walters' Files" than it is to scp it to the file
server, and have them (likely) scp it off.
I might also note it's also more efficient in terms of network usage.
On to your technical questions:
Er, what protocol does this use to share?
HTTP; it runs Apache as your user.
What authentication methods
are there?
None, the idea is the files are public.
What ports does it use?
It's dynamically bound and announced via Rendezvous.
Why would there suddenly be a
publicly viewable folder WITHIN MY HOME DIR?!
Isn't that what many installations of Apache have done for years with
~/public_html off your file server?