Nested namespaces for selective content sharing

• US 9,922,201 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2015
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: von Muhlen, Marcio, Bunger, Nils Milton, Ibrishimov, Emil, Glik, Tsahi, Price, Greg
• Primary Examiner(s): Dolly, Kendall
• Application Number:
  US14/961,067
• Publication Number:
  US 20160292443A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2145 Inheriting rights or properties, e.g., propagation of permissions or restrictions within a hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities

Abstract

Nested namespaces for selective content sharing are provided. In a content management system, content is stored for a plurality of users. The content includes a plurality of content items and a plurality of folders arranged in a plurality of hierarchies. A plurality of root namespaces is established. Each root namespace is rooted to a root folder of an account. A first namespace rooted to a first folder selected from the plurality of folders is established. First permissions are maintained for the first namespace, granting access to a first set of users. A request to share a second folder is received. The second folder is a child of the first folder in a particular hierarchy. A second namespace rooted to the second folder is established. Second permissions are maintained for the second namespace, granting access to a second set of users.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more hardware processors;

one or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform;

storing, in a content management system, content for a plurality of users, the content comprising a plurality of content items and a plurality of folders arranged in a plurality of hierarchies;

establishing, a plurality of root namespaces, wherein each root namespace, of the plurality of root namespaces, is rooted to a root folder of an account;

establishing a first namespace rooted to a first folder selected from the plurality of folders;

maintaining first permissions for the first namespace, the first permissions granting access to the first namespace to a first set of users of the plurality of users;

receiving a user request to share a second folder with a second set of users of the plurality of users;

wherein the user request is received at the content management system;

wherein the second folder is a child of the first folder in a particular hierarchy of the plurality of hierarchies;

based on the receiving the user request to share the second folder with the second set of users;

establishing a second namespace rooted to the second folder; and

maintaining second permissions for the second namespace, the second permissions granting access to the second namespace to the second set of users of the plurality of users;

determining, by the content management system, that the second permissions allow a particular user to access the second namespace; and

based on the determining, by the content management system, that the second permissions allow the particular user to access the second namespace, allowing the particular user to access the second folder.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise:

providing access to the particular user, further based on;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and the second namespace, providing access to the particular user to the first folder and its children in the particular hierarchy, including the second folder;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and does not have access to the second namespace, providing access to the particular user to the first folder and its children in the particular hierarchy, excluding the second folder;

when the particular user does not have access to the first namespace and has access to the second namespace, providing access to the particular user to the second folder.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first namespace is a shared namespace and the first folder is a shared folder in the first namespace.

4. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first folder is in a subtree comprising a root folder of an entity account,

wherein the first set of users comprises at least a subset of users associated with the entity account.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise:

determining, based on at least one of the first permissions and the second permissions, that a particular user has access to at least one of the first namespace and the second namespace;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and the second namespace, providing hierarchical data to the particular user, the hierarchical data describing the particular hierarchy, including the second folder and its descendants;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and does not have access to the second namespace, providing hierarchical data to the particular user, the hierarchical data describing the particular hierarchy, excluding the second folder and its descendants;

when the particular user does not have access to the first namespace and has access to the second namespace, providing hierarchical data to the particular user describing a subtree of the second folder.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise:

setting a parent folder of the second namespace as a path in the first namespace;

setting a permission inheritance flag for the second namespace indicating whether permissions should be inherited from a parent namespace;

wherein when the permission inheritance flag indicates that permissions should be inherited from the parent namespace, maintaining the second permissions for the second namespace comprises including the first set of users in the second set of users.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise:

receiving a request from a particular user to mount the second namespace to a particular path in a particular namespace, wherein the particular user has access to the particular namespace;

wherein the second permissions grant access to the second namespace to the particular user;

determining whether a set of one or more constraints is satisfied;

when a set of one or more constraints is satisfied, mounting the second namespace to the particular path in the particular namespace.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the set of one or more constraints includes a constraint that the second namespace cannot be mounted to more than one path in any shared namespace that is not a root namespace.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the set of one or more constraints includes a constraint that the second namespace cannot be mounted to more than one path in a root namespace, or a child namespace thereof, for any user in the second set of users.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise:

receiving a request from a particular user to perform a mounting operation involving the second namespace;

enforcing at least one constraint by obtaining one or more mount locks for one or more affected namespaces, wherein the mounting operation fails if the one or more mount locks cannot be obtained.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at one or more computing devices one or more processors and memory for storing instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, perform the operations of;

storing, in a content management system, content for a plurality of users, the content comprising a plurality of content items and a plurality of folders arranged in a plurality of hierarchies;

establishing, a plurality of root namespaces, wherein each root namespace, of the plurality of root namespaces, is rooted to a root folder of an account;

establishing a first namespace rooted to a first folder selected from the plurality of folders;

maintaining first permissions for the first namespace, the first permissions granting access to the first namespace to a first set of users of the plurality of users;

receiving a user request to share a second folder with a second set of users of the plurality of users;

wherein the user request is received at the content management system;

wherein the second folder is a child of the first folder in a particular hierarchy of the plurality of hierarchies;

based on the receiving the user request to share the second folder with the second set of users;

establishing a second namespace rooted to the second folder; and

maintaining second permissions for the second namespace, the second permissions granting access to the second namespace to the second set of users of the plurality of users;

determining, by the content management system, that the second permissions allow a particular user to access the second namespace; and

based on the determining, by the content management system, that the second permissions allow the particular user to access the second namespace, allowing the particular user to access the second folder.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing access to the particular user, further based on;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and the second namespace, providing access to the particular user to the first folder and its children in the particular hierarchy, including the second folder;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and does not have access to the second namespace, providing access to the particular user to the first folder and its children in the particular hierarchy, excluding the second folder;

when the particular user does not have access to the first namespace and has access to the second namespace, providing access to the particular user to the second folder.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first namespace is a shared namespace and the first folder is a shared folder in the first namespace.

14. The method of claim 11,

wherein the first folder is in a subtree comprising a root folder of an entity account,

wherein the first set of users comprises at least a subset of users associated with the entity account.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, based on at least one of the first permissions and the second permissions, that a particular user has access to at least one of the first namespace and the second namespace;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and the second namespace, providing hierarchical data to the particular user, the hierarchical data describing the particular hierarchy, including the second folder and its descendants;

when the particular user has access to the first namespace and does not have access to the second namespace, providing hierarchical data to the particular user, the hierarchical data describing the particular hierarchy, excluding the second folder and its descendants;

when the particular user does not have access to the first namespace and has access to the second namespace, providing hierarchical data to the particular user describing a subtree of the second folder.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

setting a parent folder of the second namespace as a path in the first namespace;

setting a permission inheritance flag for the second namespace indicating whether permissions should be inherited from a parent namespace;

wherein when the permission inheritance flag indicates that permissions should be inherited from the parent namespace, maintaining the second permissions for the second namespace comprises including the first set of users in the second set of users.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a request from a particular user to mount the second namespace to a particular path in a particular namespace, wherein the particular user has access to the particular namespace;

wherein the second permissions grant access to the second namespace to the particular user;

determining whether a set of one or more constraints is satisfied;

when a set of one or more constraints is satisfied, mounting the second namespace to the particular path in the particular namespace.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the set of one or more constraints includes a constraint that the second namespace cannot be mounted to more than one path in any shared namespace that is not a root namespace.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the set of one or more constraints includes a constraint that the second namespace cannot be mounted to more than one path in a root namespace, or a child namespace thereof, for any user in the second set of users.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a request from a particular user to perform a mounting operation involving the second namespace;

enforcing at least one constraint by obtaining one or more mount locks for one or more affected namespaces, wherein the mounting operation fails if the one or more mount locks cannot be obtained.