addFile ownership attribute

The “ownership” attribute of the <addFile> element specifies the ownership option for the captured file. If unspecified, SET_SELF is used by default.

One aspect of the installed state that is captured by the snapshot is file and directory ownership. This is not the same as UNIX permissions; it is more closely tied to the notion of reference counts. Specifically, a file or directory can be captured as being owned by one or more snapshots. If the file owner later changes as a result of another component installation, this can be recognized and reported when the file is compared against its initial state. This facilitates tracking down differences that result from one component unintentionally overwriting files associated with another component. Snapshot ownership information is captured in a repository on the target host known as the owners table.

The values of the ownership attribute have the following semantics:

• If the ownership value is SET_SELF, then the owners table should be updated so that it contains a single entry for the associated file or directory. That entry lists the executing installed component and snapshot as owners. It also lists the capture area ID of the captured contents of the file or directory.

• If the ownership value is ADD_SELF, then the installed component and snapshot should be added as additional owners, sharing the existing capture area ID as the previous owners.

• The ownership value ADD_TEMP is like ADD_SELF except that a new capture is always created and its ID is always used for the new entry rather than sharing the one of the other owners.