Once upon a time Clive Menzies said... > > I've never really understood what the first digit does <shame-faced> but > having reread the chmod manpage it falls into place ....almost. Setting > the group ID at 2, means any file or directory created by someone in 'group' > will apply the same attributes?
Not quite. I does not matter who creates the file/directory (as long as they have permission to create a file in the directory). But the file will be created with a group the same as the directory. It does not affect the attributes any new files though - hence your need for a 002 umask. Directories created in a setgid parent directory will automatically have the setgid bit set on them, so the group ID will continue to propogate down the hierarchy. Also, your terminology is a little off. "Setting the group ID at 2", should really say "Setting the setgid bit". Setting the gid bit is done by using the numeric prefix of 2, or the symbolic mode of "g+s". "Setting the group ID at 2" means something different (setting the group ID is done with chown/chgrp, not chmod). For an executable, the setgid bit (2, or g+s in symbolic form) means that when the program executes, its group id will be changed to the group of the executable. On a directory, this makes no sense, and it has been subverted to mean what I described above. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
