Re: what is the sticky bit?

[Anders Hammarquist <iko@netg.se>]

In article <[🔎] Pine.LNX.3.96.971001070937.5827A-100000@3dillusion.com> you write:

>I know this is a really stupid question.. but what is the sticky bit?

It's the tenth bit of the 12 bits of permission flags that are part of an inode (or file, though they're not really interchangable). The bits are
Set uid, set gid, Sticky, read,write,execute for owner, rwx group, rwx other

The sticky bit nowadays only has a function on directories, where it,
when set, prevents anyone but the owner of a file in the directory from
removing that file. It's commonly set on /tmp, /var/tmp, /var/spool/mail,
and other directories where many people need permission to create files,
but should be prevented from interfering with other peoples files.

/Anders

-- 
 -- Of course I'm crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
Anders Hammarquist   |       Mud at Kingdoms        | iko@netg.se
NetGuide Scandinavia |   telnet kingdoms.se 1812    | Fax: +46 31 50 79 39
http://www.netg.se   |                              | Tel: +46 31 50 79 40



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