Re: svn commit comment for "svn log <file>" is not shown, if the commit includes any files I don't have read access for

Monty wrote:
> Hi svn-dev,
> 
> I got stuck on a problem with "svn log" that firstly made no sense :)
> But after figuring out how the "svn log" works, I would kindly request
> an improvement request in a border case.
> 
> Scenario:
> 
> Within 1 repository, there are 2 folders: A & B.
> Kate has access to A & B [let's say rw], John has access to B only.
> 
> Now Kate makes a commit [let's say revision 5] that modifies files in
> both folders: A/foo and B/bar. Being a pragmatic programmer she is, she
> of course provides a commit message.
> 
> Now whichever way Kate checks revision history, everything is ok.
> However when John checks revision history [for the file visible for him,
> i.e. B/bar], he does see the commit message. He does see the revision
> [5], but not the message Kate carefully worded.
> 
> The command John executed was "svn log --username john
> https://svn-repository/B/foo". And to sysadmins' surprise, Apache error
> log showed: "Access denied: 'john' GET svn-repository:/A/foo
> 
> So... to sum it up:
> * John does see all his commit comments
> * John also sees Kate's commit comments, if her particular commit only
> touched B].
> * If there's a commit by Kate that involves A & B, John does not see the
> comment for that particular commit.
> 
> It seems there is an assumption that if you have permissions to view a
> file in a specific commit, you can see all files in the commit. In our
> use case this is not (and can't be made) true.

It might be because I'm reading the above incorrectly, but I don't think
you've expressed the correct assumption that Subversion makes.

The assumptions that Subversion makes are these:

   * A file whose contents are unreadable by user X might also have a
pathname that user X shouldn't be allowed to see.

   * A log message in which paths A and B are changed might actually mention
paths A and B by potentially-sensitive name.

When you combine the assumptions, you understand Subversion's behavior.
John isn't allowed to see any paths in A.  Kate's commit to both A and B
might mentioned paths in B.  Therefore, John shouldn't see Kate's commit log.

-- 
C. Michael Pilato <[email protected]>
CollabNet   <>   www.collab.net   <>   Distributed Development On Demand

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