Re: "S" file permissions

[Brad <lists@anomie.dhis.org>]

On Wed, 21 Jul 1999, Jim B wrote:

> (Sorry for the non-Debian-specific question.)
> 
> Can someone explain what this execute bit means?
> 
> IOW, what is the difference between "s" (suid) and "S" (?)?
> 
> I've tried irc and one guy said it was something to do with an old SysV
> standard.  Someone else said it's "super-suid" or suid without eXecute (but
> how can you have suid without executing?).
> 
> Can anyone enlighten me?
> 
> (It's not in the info or man pages.)

It is in the info page. "info ls", then choose the "What information is
listed" link, then scroll down to the -l option. 

Here's the quote:
     The permissions listed are similar to symbolic mode specifications
     (*note Symbolic Modes::.).  But `ls' combines multiple bits into
     the third character of each set of permissions as follows:
    `s'
          If the setuid or setgid bit and the corresponding executable
          bit are both set.

    `S'
          If the setuid or setgid bit is set but the corresponding
          executable bit is not set.