Accessing and providing access to computer files over a computer network

A computer program product for providing access to a plurality of computer files over a computer network including a plurality of client computers and a file server, the computer program product including a storage device storing computer-executable code executed by the file server to:

• store the computer files under a same user identifier in standard file attributes of the computer files, and store access control data of the computer files in extended attributes of the computer files,
• wherein each client computer stores thereon local copies of the computer files received from the file server by extracting the access control data thereof and storing the access control data in the standard file attributes of the computer files,
• wherein the access control data of the computer files is provided by the client computers such that access to the computer files by the computer computers is controlled by the client computers and not by the file server.

A computer program product for providing access to a plurality of computer files over a computer network including a plurality of client computers and a file server, the computer program product including a storage device storing computer-executable code executed by each client computer to:

• store local copies of the computer files received from the file server by extracting access control data of the computer files and storing the access control data in standard file attributes of the computer files,
• provide the access control data of the computer files such that access to the computer files by the computer computers is controlled by the client computers and not by the file server,
• wherein the file server stores the computer files under a same user identifier in the standard file attributes of the computer files, and stores the access control data of the computer files in extended attributes of the computer files.