Directories Setting GID...

[Bill Baker]

>From: somsky at brl.mil (William R. Somsky)
>Anyone want to tell me why directories
>are created with the set-gid bit turned on?  

The set-gid bit determines how the group id of new files is set.  If the
set-gid bit is on, the file inherits the group id from the directory.  If
not, the file inherits the group id from the effective group id of the
process.

This is a compromise between BSD and SysV.  I believe this functionality
is emerging as a standard; it is now part of the third edition SVID.

Enjoy,
web
-- 
Bill Baker             Internet: web at glasnost.austin.ibm.com
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