User Guide

Welcome to the online users guide to the Multiuser System. This guide will introduce the key concepts that users should become familiar with, and then cover how to accomplish some common tasks, and make a point of several issues that will be important to administrators of Amigas linked to the 'outside world'.

Basic Concepts

Multiuser controls access to objects. An object is some kind of resource, usually a file. Each object has an owner (usually the creator), and contains instructions about who is allowed to access it in a given way - these instructions are generally known as permissions.

In order to use the Multiuser system, you need to tell it who you are by logging in to the system. In order to login, you need to have a valid login id (username) and password, so that the system can make sure that you are who you say you are. Once you have logged in, the system knows who you are, as well as which group you belong to.

Groups allow the administrator to divide the users of the system into logical groups appropriate to who those users will make use of the system. A good example is dividing users between everyday users (call the group "users") and those that need to configure and maintain the system (call them "admins"). By setting the permissions of objects appropriately, the admins can prevent the everyday users from accidentally (or deliberately) deleting important system files.

A user can belong to more than one group, but must belong to at least one group, known as the primary group. When a user creates an object, the username and primary group of that user are stamped on it to say who owns it. This 'branding', along with the permissions, controls who can access the object.

The permissions on an object fall in to three categories - actions that the owner is allowed to perform on the object, actions that other people in the owners primary group are allowed to perform, and a catch-all category that covers everybody else. These categories are referred to as owner, group and world.

Each permission category