Proposal: gnome-user-share

[Alexander Larsson <alexl redhat com>]

I'd like to propose the gnome-user-share module for inclusion into the
gnome desktop.

gnome-user-share is a way to easily transport files between users
on a network. It works by starting a webdav server on a (random) high
port which is then published using mDNS. The webdav server just
exports the ~/Public folder. This means it will show up in the network
location in Nautilus, or in any mDNS browser that looks 
for webdav servers.

This system is not meant to be a way to set up a general file
server. It will only work while the user is logged in, and I have no
interest in adding support for sharing other directories. On the
other hand, its extremely easy to use, requires zero configuration,
its easy to remember what is shared and hard to forget that something
is shared.

The server is started when you enable file sharing in the file sharing
properties dialog, or when you log in and file sharing is enabled.

The dav server used is Apache, which has a number of advantages:

* Its well tested and well supported on all platforms that gnome ship
  on, and all webdav clients will be tested against it.
* Its thoroughly reviewed and generally believed to be pretty secure.
  Plus distributions already ship security updates of it when needed.
* With the configuration used in gnome-user-share it is very small, and
  it has very few dependencies in the server process. On my system
  the httpd process has an RSS of about 2.2 megabyte, which is far less
  than any gnome app.

Of course, there is a disadvantage too. We add another dependency to
the gnome desktop. The apache install on my system takes about 2.6
megabyte, which I think is ok on modern desktop system (it can
be packaged smaller too). But I'm sure some people will think this is
bloat that has no place in a desktop. 

This really has to be in the desktop module, because it needs some
integration with gnome-session to autostart the filesharing daemon
when you log in. Perhaps we could call it an optional part of the
desktop?

The code is availible in the cvs module gnome-user-share, and the most
recent tarball is availible at:
 ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/sources/gnome-user-share/0.3/
 
I've attached the related gnome-session patch to this mail.

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 Alexander Larsson                                            Red Hat, Inc 
                   alexl redhat com    alla lysator liu se 
He's a scarfaced skateboarding werewolf from the Mississippi delta. She's a 
virginal hip-hop college professor living on borrowed time. They fight crime!