UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

gang,

I have a need for a utility that will 'watch' a directory and when a file pops into it, it will run a script on the file. More specifically, it will pgp decrypt the file that pops into the directory.

Our Security guys aren't comfortable with the 'normal' users on our system being able to run PGP decryption on the file (due to them also being able to export our private key if they had this ability) and what Security offered up was a cron job that will look in this directory every 5 minutes for files to decrypt-I just think there is a better way.

Any suggestions???

I should think your security guys are probably right.

To have something constantly parsing a directory you have two options either a cron job....or a continually running script.

I guess either will work...the benefit in the constantly running script is that it will always change the file immediately. The cron tab will onyl do it at whatever interval you specify. However having a script running constantly can mean it gets missed on re-booting or if it fails for some reason you may not know for a while (although having said that you could put in a mail on error type loop).

You may find issues with specifying what files yuo want to decrypt...particularly knowing which one have already been decrypted and watching that other people havent' accessed a file before you change it.

I would suggest that you had one directory where the files 'pop' into...then your script decodes and moves then to a different directory where the users can access them. this will minimise your risk. Also go with cron on a shorter interval (i.e. every minute). It's tidier.