[Python-Dev] os.access on Windows

[Guido van Rossum]

On May 20, 2011 8:30 AM, "Tim Golden" <mail at timgolden.me.uk> wrote:
> On 20/05/2011 16:21, Brian Curtin wrote:
>
>> On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 03:38, Tim Golden <Tim.Golden at cbsoutdoor.co.uk
> (Sorry about that; I had no idea I'd sent that from my work account)
>
>> I think we should tread lightly in the documentation area. We already
>> have two note boxes, and adding a third probably scares everyone away.
>
> I entirely agree. (That's what I meant by "involved" above)

TBH I think the less attractive we can make os.access() look the
better. It uses the real uid instead of the effective uid, it
encourages LBYL behavior, the outcome may be incorrect, it doesn't
work on Windows... The ONLY reason to ever use it is in a setuid()
program. But who writes those any more? (Esp. in Python!)

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)