STICKY(8) BSD System Manager's Manual STICKY(8)NAMEsticky — sticky text and append-only directories
DESCRIPTION
A special file mode, called the sticky bit (mode S_ISVTX), is used to
indicate special treatment for directories. It is ignored for regular
files. See chmod(2) or the file <sys/stat.h> for an explanation of file
modes.
STICKY DIRECTORIES
A directory whose `sticky bit' is set becomes an append-only directory,
or, more accurately, a directory in which the deletion of files is
restricted. A file in a sticky directory may only be removed or renamed
by a user if the user has write permission for the directory and the user
is the owner of the file, the owner of the directory, or the super-user.
This feature is usefully applied to directories such as /tmp which must
be publicly writable but should deny users the license to arbitrarily
delete or rename each others' files.
Any user may create a sticky directory. See chmod(1) for details about
modifying file modes.
HISTORY
A sticky command appeared in Version 32V AT&T UNIX.
BUGS
Neither open(2) nor mkdir(2) will create a file with the sticky bit set,
it must be chmod'd after the fact. However, mkdir(1) will do the right
thing.
BSD June 5, 1993 BSD
