so the upper S means that file is NOT set executable even though the setuid bit is turned on, dang and I thought I've been doing this a long time but must have missed that one somewhere along the way. I can't for the life of me figure out the purpose. Joe --------------------------------------- You can have it: Fast, Right or Cheap, pick 2 of the 3. Fast + Right is Expensive Fast + Cheap will be incorrect. Right + Cheap will take a while. "Jared Still" <jkstill@xxxxxxxxx> Sent by: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 07/01/2008 02:56 PM Please respond to jkstill@xxxxxxxxx From "Jared Still" <jkstill@xxxxxxxxx> To "Oracle-L Freelists" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cc Subject Re: Sticky bit set on linux password file 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