Sticky Bit (-rwsr-xr-x Unix file permission)

Everybody handling a Unix operating system would very well know what chmod 777 means. That the owner, group and the user of the file is given all permissions (Read, Write and Execute on a particular file). This could otherwise be written as “chmod ugo+rwx “. Meaning that you are giving User, Group and Owner of the file, the rights to Read, Write and Execute the file.

Here comes the rws scenario. Best example that is available for this rws is /usr/bin/passwd command (just issue a “ls -l /usr/bin/passwd”) .

Normally, any user is allowed change HIS password. Meaning he can make an entry or change HIS entry in the /etc/passwd file. But he can never be given ‘WRITE’ permissions on the file because he might end up disturbing other person’s password too. Only a ROOT user is allowed permissions on the /etc/passwd file.

This is where the “rws” comes to picture. When we give “rws” permission to the /usr/bin/passwd command, Unix would assume that the command is executed by the ROOT user. (the user doesnt have permissions on the /etc/passwd file but the root user has). Root user (RWS) permissions could be given on a file as chmod 4700 .

arun@arun-desktop:~/Desktop$ chmod 4700 hi.txt
arun@arun-desktop:~/Desktop$ ls -l hi.txt
-rws—— 1 arun arun 0 2007-01-17 06:48 hi.txt

If you need to act as a group user of a file and not a normal user when executing a particular command (as against the root user) then user “chmod 2700 ”

arun@arun-desktop:~/Desktop$ chmod 2700 hi.txt
arun@arun-desktop:~/Desktop$ ls -l hi.txt
-rwx–S— 1 arun arun 0 2007-01-17 06:48 hi.txt

The 4 and 2 in the front of the chmod commands are called as SUID and SGID bits.

What if we put a 1 instead of 4 and 2 (chmod 1700 ).

arun@arun-desktop:~/Desktop$ chmod 1700 hi.txt
arun@arun-desktop:~/Desktop$ ls -l hi.txt
-rwx—–T 1 arun arun 0 2007-01-17 06:48 hi.txt

It shows a “T” in the place of “x” for a normal user. This “T” bit is called as the Sticky bit.

“When the sticky bit is turned on for a directory users can have read and/or write permissions for that directory, but they can only remove or rename files that they own. The sticky bit on a file tells the operating system that the file will be executed frequently. Files like this are kept in swap space even when they aren’t being executed. Although this takes up swap space it greatly reduces the time it takes to execute the program. Some programs such as vi have the sticky bit turned on by default on some Unixes.”