i m a bit confused when removing SGID and Sticky bit on a folder in RHEL6 in numaric method. please consider the following commands:

with the command "chmod 0775 /test" all special permission on the folder /test should be removed. but its not working at all.

root@station22 ~]# chmod 1775 /test
[root@station22 ~]# stat /test
File: `/test'
Size: 4096 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 directory
Device: 808h/2056d Inode: 394830 Links: 3
Access: (1775/drwxrwxr-t) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 504/ rhce)
Access: 2011-07-06 23:29:40.852197810 +0600
Modify: 2011-07-07 00:04:53.685697270 +0600
Change: 2011-07-07 00:05:42.366818059 +0600
[root@station22 ~]# chmod 2775 /test
[root@station22 ~]# !stat
stat /test
File: `/test'
Size: 4096 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 directory
Device: 808h/2056d Inode: 394830 Links: 3
Access: (2775/drwxrwsr-x) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 504/ rhce)
Access: 2011-07-06 23:29:40.852197810 +0600
Modify: 2011-07-07 00:04:53.685697270 +0600
Change: 2011-07-07 00:05:58.874818476 +0600
[root@station22 ~]# chmod 1775 /test
[root@station22 ~]# !stat
stat /test
File: `/test'
Size: 4096 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 directory
Device: 808h/2056d Inode: 394830 Links: 3
Access: (3775/drwxrwsr-t) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 504/ rhce)
Access: 2011-07-06 23:29:40.852197810 +0600
Modify: 2011-07-07 00:04:53.685697270 +0600
Change: 2011-07-07 00:06:12.691694970 +0600
[root@station22 ~]# chmod 0775 /test
[root@station22 ~]# !stat
stat /test
File: `/test'
Size: 4096 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 directory
Device: 808h/2056d Inode: 394830 Links: 3
Access: (2775/drwxrwsr-x) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 504/ rhce)
Access: 2011-07-06 23:29:40.852197810 +0600
Modify: 2011-07-07 00:04:53.685697270 +0600
Change: 2011-07-07 00:06:23.552693385 +0600

man chmod:
In other words, chmod 0775 /test will not remove set-user-ID or set-group-ID bits from directory /test; use e.g. chmod a-st,u=rwx,g=rwx,o=rx /test for that instead. (a-st alone will remove set-user-ID, set-group-ID, and sticky bit, leaving the user, group, and access mode intact.)

ya. bit clear is working with symbolic method. but in rhel5 it was working in numaric method too. 0755 made all bits clear in rhel5. so this is new feature(?!) in rhel6 ?? can anyone say why ??

In July 2006, the coreutils developers found that the behaviour of chmod differs between various systems (Solaris 10 and OpenBSD 3.9, for example). Since the sticky, set-user-ID, and set-group-ID bits on a directory are special, and should not be accidentally *removed* by a user, they decided to change the behaviour of the coreutils chmod command.

Red Hat didn't pick up the change until RHEL 6, I think.

See for example this discussion thread on the bug-coreutils mailing list.

I personally use the set-group-ID bit on directories extensively on servers, to allow administrator access control via local groups (and not user accounts at all). (The set-group-ID makes new files and directories inherit the group from the directory, and not from the user.) I recommend it warmly, it has worked very, very well for the last few years. I do need to check now and then if some user has accidentally unset the set-group-ID bit on some directory, because that will obviously break things.

Therefore, I think this chmod behaviour change is very beneficial. A chmod 0755 dir or chmod g=rwx dir command will no longer remove the set-group-ID bit. This eliminates the typical error that breaks group-based access control. (Actually, after this change in chmod behaviour, I do think it will only break by a deliberate attempt, and not by innocent accident anymore.)