[cap-talk] ACLs--who needs them?

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

On Sat, 2008-02-02 at 08:44 -0800, John Carlson wrote:
> The need for ACLs seems to be driven from the folder/file/directory/ 
> filesystem idea.  If we think about folders and files in the real  
> world, they are normally protected by keys and passwords (capabilities  
> as data).

??? I have never observed a conventional file system protected by either
keys or passwords. I have seen authentication schemes that use both, but
all of the conventional file systems that I know about rely on the
principal information resulting from authentication.

Can you explain what you mean?