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authordholland <dholland@NetBSD.org>2008-09-05 03:28:15 +0000
committerdholland <dholland@NetBSD.org>2008-09-05 03:28:15 +0000
commit629defb951a44edfa67734113af615f2dedbbb1b (patch)
tree845293d254914572ba81aef6a14b159fa8c9a112 /lib/libc/sys
parentcf6d5129c5bf95a008b6cd73e342aefc38f6b31b (diff)
Clarify that the historic V7 sticky file semantics no longer apply.
Diffstat (limited to 'lib/libc/sys')
-rw-r--r--lib/libc/sys/chmod.231
1 files changed, 20 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/lib/libc/sys/chmod.2 b/lib/libc/sys/chmod.2
index 34db6105434..9d278264a33 100644
--- a/lib/libc/sys/chmod.2
+++ b/lib/libc/sys/chmod.2
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\" $NetBSD: chmod.2,v 1.32 2007/01/09 06:41:57 wiz Exp $
+.\" $NetBSD: chmod.2,v 1.33 2008/09/05 03:28:15 dholland Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
.\"
.\" @(#)chmod.2 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
.\"
-.Dd January 9, 2007
+.Dd September 4, 2008
.Dt CHMOD 2
.Os
.Sh NAME
@@ -104,24 +104,33 @@ defined in
#define S_ISVTX 0001000 /* save swapped text even after use */
.Ed
.Pp
-The
+If mode
.Dv ISVTX
(the
-.Em sticky bit )
-indicates to the system which executable files are shareable (the
-default) and the system maintains the program text of the files
-in the swap area.
-The sticky bit may only be set by the super user
-on shareable executable files.
+.Sq sticky bit )
+is set on a regular file, it historically meant that the system should
+save a shareable copy of the program text in the swap area.
+When applied to commonly used programs like the shell or editor, this
+would decrease memory usage and startup time.
+In
+.Nx ,
+the sticky bit may still be set on regular files by the super-user,
+but has no effect.
+The historical meaning became obsolete in the 1980s with the advent of
+memory-mapped executables, and is only documented as a matter of
+historical interest.
.Pp
If mode
.Dv ISVTX
-(the `sticky bit') is set on a directory,
+(the
+.Sq sticky bit )
+is set on a directory,
an unprivileged user may not delete or rename
files of other users in that directory.
The sticky bit may be set by any user on a directory which the user
owns or has appropriate permissions.
-For more details of the properties of the sticky bit, see
+.Pp
+For more information about the properties of the sticky bit, see
.Xr sticky 7 .
.Pp
Changing the owner of a file