I have written an external method that changes information in a file a bit like the write to file method. It uses import os and system calls for shell commands(the shell commands owner and group is abc) the script uses os.chmod 0777 on the file, alters it with the shell command and then os.chmod 644 It works when the file is anywhere on the local filesystem but not over nfs. Zope is started by root and the exernal method is owned by root. themethod.py is owned by root nfs is mounted as in fstab 10.10.10.10:/SHARE1 /nfs1 nfs addr=10.10.10..10,noauto 0 0 /nfs1 has root ownership and everything below this is 65534 (nobody) user and group with the relevant files read write lor the user and read for group and others there is no entry in etc/exports another shell based command (owner abc group abc )writes the initial files to nfs I beleve that the problem relates to file permissions but dont know how to fix it.Any help appreciated. When we reduce our own liberties to stop terrorism, the terrorists have already won. - reverius