File Owner shown as nobody

Hi,

The file owner is shown as 'nobody' in TS GUI whereas it shows the real username when checked by 'ls -l' or by checking the 'File Properties'.

I actually saw topics related to this but I couldn't see any definite solution.

Any help in this regard is highly appreciated.

FYI, we are using TS 5.5.2 SP3 on Solaris 8 platform with webserver Netscape Sun One 6.0.

Thanks in advance.

--Vetri

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Adam Stoller

who is the owner of the TeamSite server process? 'root', 'nobody', or someone else?

At what point do you notice the files becomes last modified by 'nobody'? during editing or (more likely) after a workflow process has completed?

Are you using OOTB or custom workflows ?

Do the workflows use externaltask scripts?

Who owns those externaltask scripts?

...

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

lawspetvetri

Apologies for the delayed response as I wasn't available last week.

iwserver process is owned by root.

There is no workflow in place that causes this problem.

The affected files are the html files that are generated from the xml files after applying the stylesheet through SAXON parser. The entire process is done by a 'custom-menu' cgi script. This script is also called only once and therefore there is no need to call it again through a 'wrapper cgi'.

Actually the cgi process is also owned by the user who actually invokes it. And as I said before, the file owner is shown right in the telnet session and also by checking the 'File Properties'.

The worst part of the problem is that it does not happen consistently. We are finding it difficult to even recreate the same problem in another test server.

P.S.: A small correction in the details: we have SP4 on our server.

Thanks for the quick response.

Looking forward for a reply.

-- Vetri

Adam Stoller

This script is also called only once and therefore there is no need to call it again through a 'wrapper cgi'.
Hmm - I'd actually recommend that you run your CGI through the iw_cgi_wrapper.cgi to ensure that the process is run by the user logged in.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

lawspetvetri

Lert me be more precise.

The cgi is called only once when the user clicks on the menu item. I strongly believe that Teamsite calls the program through the 'iw_cgi_wrapper.cgi'. The cgi program is not called thereafter.

lawspetvetri

I noticed another strange behaviour today.

User1 created a XML file 2 days back and then generated the html file.

Today, User2 modified the XML file and then generated the html page using the cgi script.

The XML file is correctly shown as 'Modified by' User2 whereas the html file still shows as 'Modified by' User1 (It is not 'nobody' now)

Would it be something related to file/directory permissions?

Adam Stoller

I strongly believe that Teamsite calls the program through the 'iw_cgi_wrapper.cgi'
I wouldn't believe that unless I verified it for myself.
I would believe that it will run the program as the user if, and only if, I explicitly directed the URL to go through the iw_cgi_wrapper.cgi.

Now - unless you have actual evidence to the contrary - perhaps you should either verify your statement or adjust the URL for the custom menu item and force it to go through the iw_cgi_wrappre.cgi ... then we'll all know whether or not that was the issue - yes?

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Frederik

TS 5.5.2 sp4 on solaris

I can share my experience that I've seen a few occurences of the same thing.

1) I updated a file using vi on the /.iwmnt mount + submit using CLT iwsubmit. Turns out that the file is "modified by" nobody

2) same as before, but now "modified by" is the same other user as it had been before.

3) I just did vi on one of the files that was "modified by" nobody. Changed a few chars, saved. Still modified by nobody (checked via TS web GUI and using iwattrib CLT). Used unix CLT "touch" on the file. Suddenly it's modified by me... Did "get latest overwrite" to get the "nobody" file back. Did another change with vi, and now I'm the "modified by" user...

go figure. :-(