Yes. This is the trick. And it's an old one.
For example, paranoid sysadmins that don't like .rhosts will (as root) create a .rhosts _directory_ in a user's $HOME, throw an empty file in there (eg, touch ~user/.rhosts/noremove), then chmod 0 it.
/* Keith Warno
Errm... not exactly. Changing the name of a file (or directory) does _not_ depend on the modes of this particular entry to be changed, but the permissions of the directory that contains the objects in question. Consider a directory just like an ordinary file, containing other files, directories and other objects. Changing the object's names means changing the directory's content. **root**@reality:/home/client # pwd /home/client **root**@reality:/home/client # mkdir .rhosts **root**@reality:/home/client # touch .rhosts/noremove **root**@reality:/home/client # chmod 0 .rhosts/noremove .rhosts/ **root**@reality:/home/client # ls -lad . .rhosts drwxr-xr-x 7 client users 1024 Jun 20 01:47 . d--------- 2 root root 1024 Jun 20 01:48 .rhosts **root**@reality:/home/client # su - client reality:/home/client $ pwd /home/client reality:/home/client $ mv .rhosts .r reality:/home/client $ ls -lad .r . drwxr-xr-x 7 client users 1024 Jun 20 01:48 . d--------- 2 root root 1024 Jun 20 01:48 .r reality:/home/client $ id uid=200(client) gid=100(users) groups=100(users) reality:/home/client $ Roman. -- _ _ | Roman Drahtmüller "The best way to pay for a | CC University of Freiburg lovely moment is to enjoy it." | email: draht@uni-freiburg.de - Richard Bach | - -