chattr non-root users

[Borislav Petkov <petkov@uni-muenster.de>]

Hi there,

here's a qoute for ya:
"... i The 'i' attribute stands for "immutable", this offers a level of 
protection against deletion. The 'i' attribute can only be added/removed 
to/from a files attribute by the 'root' user."[1]

So I'm trying to do chattr +i <filename> as a non root user and my /home is 
ext3, but chattr returns:
chattr: Operation not permitted while setting flags on <filename>

Root does not suffer under such restrictions so can anyone enlighten me on the 
reasons behind not allowing non root users to make files in their homes 
immutable. Searching the archives didn't reveal much except that it confirmed 
my speculations that not allowing file attribute manipulations by non-root 
users could be a kind of security measure. hm..

Thanks in advance,
Boris.


[1] "Understanding chattr." MeanPC, 2004. 
<http://www.meanpc.com/linux/understanding_chattr.htm>