sticky(8) - NetBSD Manual Pages

STICKY(8)               NetBSD System Manager's Manual               STICKY(8)


NAME

     sticky - `sticky' append-only directories


DESCRIPTION

     A special file mode, called the sticky bit (mode S_ISVTX), is used to in-
     dicate special treatment for directories.  See chmod(2) or the file
     /usr/include/sys/stat.h


STICKY FILES

     The use of mode S_ISVTX is reserved and can be set only by the super-us-
     er.


STICKY DIRECTORIES

     A directory whose `sticky bit' is set becomes an append-only directory,
     or, more accurately, a directory in which the deletion of files is re-
     stricted.  A file in a sticky directory may only be removed or renamed by
     a user if the user has write permission for the directory and the user is
     the owner of the file, the owner of the directory, or the super-user.
     This feature is usefully applied to directories such as /tmp which must
     be publicly writable but should deny users the license to arbitrarily
     delete or rename each others' files.

     Any user may create a sticky directory.  See chmod(1) for details about
     modifying file modes.


BUGS

     Neither open(2) nor mkdir(2) will create a file with the sticky bit set.

NetBSD 1.4                       May 25, 1998                                1