Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (2441 mails)

[James Knott <james.knott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul Gienger wrote:
>>Modifying a file and deleting it are two entirely different things.  If
>>you create or delete a file, you're modifying the file that describes
>>the directory contents, not the contents of the directory.  The most you
>>can do, if you can't delete the file, is reduce it to zero bytes.
>>However, you won't be able to delete the file.
> 
> Since I think we've crossed into the theoretical here and completely
> hijacked the OP, what use could this extra bit possibly have?  If the data
> is gone then the file just as well might be gone.  I would have to think
> this is probably close to the reason that there's only rwx in UNIX,
> regardless of how many complex ACLs you have. 
> 
> I'm not discounting the possibility that the rwx+m permission structure has
> a valid use-case, I'm just really struggling to find it.  Can anyone
> elaborate a good use?
> 

It also prevents someone from creating a file.  The whole idea is that
one person can control what files are added or deleted in a directory,
while allowing others to make changes to those files.