PC1 Mandrake 10.2 @ 192.168.10.1
PC2 Mandriva2008 @ 192.168.10.2

Connected on local LAN via ssh. I access files between the two PCs by invoking sftp://<address> from within Konqueror.

I would like to allow office staff to use PC2/scanner combo to update one or two specific folders inside the home folder on PC1. I do not want them to have access to other folders within my home folder. I tried setting permissions on all the folders I want protected, but when I ssh in to PC1 from PC2, I am able to access all home folders on PC1....BAD! Any ideas on the best way to do this?

Should I copy the one or two folders I want updated from PC1 to PC2 and then let them live on PC2 and be updated from there in which case I could then copy the folders back from PC2 to PC1, but then I would not know to what extent each file or folder within these directories had been updated. I suppose that when I copy these folders back to the original, Konq will alert me that some of the original folders and files already exist and I can choose to either overwrite all or autoskip files that are original, but this seems kind of sloppy and makes me nervous.

Or should I leave these folders on PC1 and attempt to scan (using xsane) to to PC1 from PC2 . I don't even know if xsane will do this, but I can try. ( there are about 6-10 folders within each of these two main directories I want worked on, and they are nested about 4-6 folders deep within each of those.)

Any suggestions on how to do this neatly without having scanned docs spread out on two PCs would be welcome. My main goal however is to limit access to only certain folders. If I copy those working folders to PC2, then my permissions issues are moot, but would still like to know how to do it.

Thanks

Anyone who connects via ssh with your user name and password, will have access to all folders within your home dir. Perhaps other users should use a different login to your PC, but should belong to the same group as you. Then you can give the group a read and write access to the shared folders, and change access to private folders to user only.

OK what I've decided to do is just copy only those folders needing updates from PC1 to PC2.

This will solve a couple problems.
1. It will give me a copy of important data, so that office help won't have direct access to the original files and can't delete or alter them.
2. They won't have access to PC1 period. (this is my main PC)

Within those folders however on PC2, there are still one or two subfolders I want to protect, so now what is the best way to "lock" a particular folder that is nested in one of these main folders? Should I consider encryption and if so how does one go about it. I looked into bcrypt but I don't think it does folders.

So now we're talking about only working on PC2. If I create a new user, what's the best way to share and then limit access to specific folders on another users desktop without dissecting the main folders into little pieces? Will "sharing" under properties solve this in Konqueror?

Thank you for any help

Well, I guess this has turned into somewhat of a file sharing issue now. I will try to access these selected folders from a newly created user's Desktop.