On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 01:45:19PM -0500, Robert Spangler wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I need to know if there is something I am missing about file permission as I
> believe I am seeing some strange stuff on my system. I have a directory as
> follows:
>
> drwxrwxrwx 7 root root 4096 Mar 10 13:35 temp
>
> In this directory I have a file:
>
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 137 Oct 30 02:16 208-109-248-33test
>
> As a normal user should I be able to rename this file? I believe that only
> root should be able to modify this file but as a normal user I am able to
> rename it without elevated privileges as so:
>
> temp $ mv 208-109-248-33test 208-109-248-33-mv
>
> [Sat Mar 10 13:41:05] /temp
>
> temp $ lt 208*
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 137 Oct 30 02:16 208-109-248-33-mv
>
> How is this possible? If it is possible what am I missing or not
> understanding? Thnx.
As Mr Owen remarks, nothing is broken. To get the mode ("permissions")
semantics that you might be expecting, set the "sticky bit" of the
directory.
<root> # chmod +t temp
Then the mode will appear as "drwxrwxrwt" ( 1777 in octal).
Notice that this is the same as the mode for /tmp.
"In Unix, everything is a file." Directories are files, too.
Dave