On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 11:51 AM, Jared Still <jkstill@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > The following test was performed: > > shutdown database > chmod 640 orapworcl > startup database > logon to database remotely as sysdba > > It doesn't appear that the SUID bit serves any purpose. > > Does someone here know why the password file is SUID? > > I hit SEND just a bit too soon. After doing that test, I saw that the sticky bit was again set on the password file. This occurs during the mount of the controlfile (9.2.0.7 database) -- SQL> startup nomount ORACLE instance started. Total System Global Area 337609664 bytes Fixed Size 742336 bytes Variable Size 218103808 bytes Database Buffers 117440512 bytes Redo Buffers 1323008 bytes SQL> !ls -l orapworcl -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1536 Oct 30 2007 orapworcl SQL> alter database mount; Database altered. SQL> !ls -l orpworcl -rwSr----- 1 oracle oinstall 1536 Oct 30 2007 orapwqa01 SQL> So the question still stands - why? Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist