access(2) (was: Writing to A NON-Existing File in "C")

[Richard A. O'Keefe]

In article <50280 at sun.uucp>, limes at sun.uucp (Greg Limes) writes:
>                             So, it is not necessary to actually set the
> setuid and setgid bits on a program for the real and effective uids to
> be different.
  
This is the key point I had forgotten.

> I would like to pose a modified version of your question back at you:
> Is there any legitimate reason why someone might need to disable
> switchuser-ed access to a program?

Yes, there is.  Someone providing a programming system such as a Lisp or
SmallTalk interpreter might want to do this to reduce the chance of their
being held liable for loss or damage due to a security bug.  (Ok, this is
a wee bit paranoid, but I am a devout comp.risks reader.)