Effective UID and Real UID

Milosevic · 01-06-2007, 10:23 AM

Hi everybody,

i'd like to know what is the difference between the real uid and the effective uid (if someone can point out a good source of information it would be enough, i've been googling but things are still confuse in my head).

Cheers, Milosevic

xjlittle · 01-06-2007, 10:41 AM

I think this is a pretty good summary:

Quote:

Normally these are the same, but if a program with a set-uid bit set is run, then while the real UID remains that of the user who ran it, the effective UID is that of the user who owns the file.

I found it here if you want to read more:
http://unixpapa.com/incnote/setuid.html

hth