Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Share one Eudora folder between multiple users Apps
The idea is to have shared access to the Eudora Folder from multiple user accounts on OS X. You do this by changing the ownership of the Eudora Folder and all its contents upon login, so this change is transparent to the user. Here's how to do it...

Instructions:
  1. Move the Eudora Folder to a central location. I chose /Shared/"Eudora Folder"

  2. In the Documents folder of each user, set up an alias to the central Eudora Folder. I simply Command-Option dragged the Eudora folder to the proper locations. You end up with /Users -> username -> Documents -> "Eudora Folder," which is the alias.

  3. The command to change the owner is:
    chown -R username path/to/central/Eurora/Folder>
    It is easiest to put this line in a shell script. I used "John Doe" as the user who is going to be made the owner of the Eudora Folder:
    #!/bin/sh
    # this script changes the owner of the Eudora Folder to John Doe

    echo "Changing Eudora Folder owner to John Doe..."
    chown -R johndoe /Volumes/Operator/Users/Shared/Eudora\ Folder
    echo "Done!"
    Notice that I have moved my Users directory to a different partition. The standard location is /Users. I called my shell script "setUpEudora". You now have a shell script which will make johndoe the owner of the Eudora Folder (once you set the execute bit). However, it will not work as is. If you were to run this from Terminal, you would have to type...
    sudo chown -R johndoe /Volumes/Operator/Users/Shared/Eudora Folder
    ... because Unix prevents normal users from reassigning file ownership. To make this work automatically, and without sudo, do the following...

  4. Make the script setUID and set the shell script's permissions to rwxr-xr-x:
    chmod 4755 /path/to/setUpEudora/
  5. Change the owner of setUpEudora to root. I used X-Ray for this, but the command...
    sudo chown root /path/to/setUpEudora
    ... will work. Be prepared to enter your administrator password when asked. You now have a shell script which will change the ownership of the Eudora Folder when you run it in Terminal. There are a couple more steps to make this even easier to use...

  6. Create an AppleScript with the command:
    do shell script /path/to/setUpEudora
    Compile this script as an application, and set it to not bring up a startup screen. I called my application "MakeEudoraMine". We are almost done now.

  7. Go to the System Preferences -> Login Items, and choose MakeEudoraMine to startup at login.
That is it for johndoe. He now has three new files in his Documents Folder: the alias to the centrally located Eudora Folder; the setUpEudora shell script which makes him the owner of the Eudora Folder; and the MakeEudoraMine AppleScript which runs at startup to execute the shell script.

To allow Jane Doe to also have access to the Eudora Folder, she needs the three items, too. Have Jane login, then:
  1. First, make her an alias of the Eudora Folder.
  2. Make her a version of the shell script with "janedoe" substituted for "johndoe". Set the file permissions as before.
  3. Make her a copy of the AppleScript, with the correct path to Jane's copy of MakeEudoraMine.
  4. Set the applescript to run on login, as before.
Notes:
  • I hesitated using setUID, because there is a potential for a security breach with these kinds of programs. I am still new to UNIX, so maybe there is a better way to accomplish this. If anyone has a better idea, please let us all know.

  • If you don't want to use AppleScript, you can "source" the path to the shell script to the .tcshrc, but some people may not want to deal with the Terminal.

  • I had trouble getting the Applescript application to launch. It kept on failing with -1408 and -1440 errors. The way I got it to work was to play around with different application settings (require OS 9, show splash screen), delete these files, then empty the trash. Finally, it worked. Seems like a bug in Applescript to me.
    •    
  • Currently 0.00 / 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  (0 votes cast)
 
[8,684 views]  

Share one Eudora folder between multiple users | 4 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Share one Eudora folder between multiple users' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Sharing Eudora
Authored by: timrand on Dec 10, '02 01:35:11PM

I never had to do all this circuitous work to setup my shared Eudora folder. Eudora (back in Mac OS 9 days and earlier) used to store the Eudora Folder in the System Folder. Simply put the Eudora folder there and you don't have to deal with the aliases. However, as of Eudora 5.2, there is a security bug that crops up. It seems that Eudora creates a new maibox called In.Temp and this file creation institutes new ownership for a user. This breaks sharing.

I like the approach outlined here to create a login task which switches the security on the folder. That will work for me so off I go to try to use this technique. Thanks



[ Reply to This | # ]
Sharing Eudora
Authored by: neill on Dec 10, '02 03:05:29PM

Wouldn't it be easier to just set perms on the Eudora folder to
everybody read/write and let each user start Eudora by double clicking
on a personalized Eudora Settings file instead? I do this now so my wife
and I can share the same Eudora mailboxes (along with filters to get
everybody's mail into a personal Inbox). My Eudora folder is on
an ASIP server . . . but as long as it's in /Shared with permissions
for everybody it should work.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Well..
Authored by: Sveto on Dec 10, '02 04:03:08PM

I have been using Eudora5.1 and 5.2 all that time and not only with different users sharing same mail, contacts and all, but I have been sharing it also under X and 9.2.2 in the same time. The only thing to do is to make from "get info" the folder "Eudora Folder" "read&write" for everybody (all 3 options should be read&write), also keep it in the "Documents" folder, do not move it from there. You can have your X application in "Applications" folder and for the OS9 the respective "Applications (Mac OS 9)" place. Install all as root and not separate per user. The OS9 version you install from OS9, not from X with classic running. Very simple.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Share one Eudora folder between multiple users
Authored by: timrand on Feb 25, '03 11:30:33PM
Better Script: Create a Shell Script ChangeEudoraPermissions.sh
#!/bin/sh
# this script changes the owner of the eudora Folder to John Doe

echo "Changing eudora Folder owner to `whoami` ..."
chown -R `whoami` /Documents/Eudora\ Folder/Spool\ Folder/*.temp
chmod a+rw /Documents/Eudora\ Folder/Spool\ Folder/*.temp
echo "Done!"
Put this in a shared location, CHOWN it to Root, CHMOD it +s (4755) and create the AppleScript do shell script one-line program. That works great!

[ Reply to This | # ]