kinamedebo

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Can anybody describe about SUID, SGID and Sticky Bit's function and how they work with files and directories. These things make me so confused . So if someone help me, that will be highly appritiated. And finally i am totally a in linux world ( My operating system is RHel5).

pcunix

I believe "man chmod" or "info chmod" describes all that. If there are specific things you don't understand after reading that, I'm sure we can help clear them up.

ongte

Let me attempt to answer this one.

SUID is used mainly on executable files when you want whoever executes this file to have the permissions of the file owner (usually root). This is somewhat of a security risk & should be used with caution.

SGID is usually used on directories shared by GroupID. Where users join a group and share access to a directory using the GID of the directory. SGID is then used to ensure that all files created in that directory also belong to the same GID, allowing all group members access.

The Sticky bit is used on world writable directories to maintain ownership control. When a directory is world writtable, any file in it can be deleted by anyone. By setting the sticky bit on the directory, it will enforce ownership of the files & ensure that only the file's owners and root can delete the files. You can see an example of this in the /tmp directory.