diff -ur pvfs-1.6.3-pre1/mgr/meta/metaio.h pvfs-1.6.3-pre1-fx/mgr/meta/metaio.h
--- pvfs-1.6.3-pre1/mgr/meta/metaio.h	Thu Oct 24 10:09:33 2002
+++ pvfs-1.6.3-pre1-fx/mgr/meta/metaio.h	Mon Jun 14 14:43:17 2004
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 int meta_access(int fd, char *pathname, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, int mode);
 int meta_check_ownership(int fd, char *pathname, uid_t uid, gid_t gid);
 int get_parent(char *pathname); /* this should go somewhere else */
+int in_group(uid_t uid, gid_t gid);
 
 int md_mkdir(char *dirpath, dmeta_p dir);
 int get_dmeta(char * fname, dmeta_p dir);
diff -ur pvfs-1.6.3-pre1/mgr/mgr.c pvfs-1.6.3-pre1-fx/mgr/mgr.c
--- pvfs-1.6.3-pre1/mgr/mgr.c	Tue Jun  8 13:07:44 2004
+++ pvfs-1.6.3-pre1-fx/mgr/mgr.c	Mon Jun 14 14:41:41 2004
@@ -522,6 +522,8 @@
 	}
 
 	ack_p->ack.access.meta.u_stat.st_size = -1; /* not valid anyway */
+	
+
 	ack_p->eno = EACCES;
 	ack_p->status = -1;
 	if (req_p->req.access.mode & R_OK)
@@ -530,11 +532,13 @@
 		mode_bits |= 002;
 	if (req_p->req.access.mode & X_OK)
 		mode_bits |= 001;
-	/* check o, g, and u in that order */
-	if (((ack_p->ack.access.meta.u_stat.st_mode & 007) &
+	/* check root, o, g, and u in that order */
+	if (req_p->uid == 0) /*give root access no matter what */
+		ack_p->status = 0;
+	else if (((ack_p->ack.access.meta.u_stat.st_mode & 007) &
 		 mode_bits) == mode_bits)
 		ack_p->status = 0;
-	else if (ack_p->ack.access.meta.u_stat.st_gid == req_p->gid &&
+	else if (1 == in_group(req_p->uid, ack_p->ack.access.meta.u_stat.st_gid) &&
 		(((ack_p->ack.access.meta.u_stat.st_mode >> 3) & 007) &
 		 mode_bits) == mode_bits)
 		ack_p->status = 0;