[Exist-open] Permissions Question

[Aaron D. <aa...@da...>]

The following note in the documentation is confusing me:
"Please be aware that permissions for collections are NOT inherited by
their sub-collections, i.e. write permissions can be set for some
sub-collections, but you must also have write permissions for the parent
collection for these to be effective."

If the parent permissions are not inherited, then why would
sub-collections not be writable if the parent is restricted?  This
wording suggests to me that regardless of parent permissions, local
permissions are fully honoured.  So which is it?

I want to open my database up to arbitrary XQueries but without the
ability to actually modify anything.  I assume this would mean only "R"
permissions on the files in question.  I want to make sure I have the
inheritance thing well in hand.

Also, the mailing list suggests there's a way using conf.xml files to
change the default file creation permissions (back in 2005).  Is there
current documentation that explains exactly how this is to be done?

One last thing, is there a way to recursively update the permissions of
collections and files using the java client?  Or is XQuery the only way?

Thanks for your help!
Aaron