chmod(2) [bsd man page]
CHMOD(2) System Calls Manual CHMOD(2) NAME
chmod - change mode of file SYNOPSIS
chmod(path, mode) char *path; int mode; fchmod(fd, mode) int fd, mode; DESCRIPTION
The file whose name is given by path or referenced by the descriptor fd has its mode changed to mode. Modes are constructed by or'ing together some combination of the following, defined in <sys/inode.h>: ISUID 04000 set user ID on execution ISGID 02000 set group ID on execution ISVTX 01000 `sticky bit' (see below) IREAD 00400 read by owner IWRITE 00200 write by owner IEXEC 00100 execute (search on directory) by owner 00070 read, write, execute (search) by group 00007 read, write, execute (search) by others If an executable file is set up for sharing (this is the default) then mode ISVTX (the `sticky bit') prevents the system from abandoning the swap-space image of the program-text portion of the file when its last user terminates. Ability to set this bit on executable files is restricted to the super-user. If mode ISVTX (the `sticky bit') is set on a directory, an unprivileged user may not delete or rename files of other users in that direc- tory. For more details of the properties of the sticky bit, see sticky(8). Only the owner of a file (or the super-user) may change the mode. Writing or changing the owner of a file turns off the set-user-id and set-group-id bits unless the user is the super-user. This makes the system somewhat more secure by protecting set-user-id (set-group-id) files from remaining set-user-id (set-group-id) if they are modified, at the expense of a degree of compatibility. RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. ERRORS
Chmod will fail and the file mode will be unchanged if: [ENOTDIR] A component of the path prefix is not a directory. [EINVAL] The pathname contains a character with the high-order bit set. [ENAMETOOLONG] A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters, or an entire path name exceeded 1023 characters. [ENOENT] The named file does not exist. [EACCES] Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix. [ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname. [EPERM] The effective user ID does not match the owner of the file and the effective user ID is not the super-user. [EROFS] The named file resides on a read-only file system. [EFAULT] Path points outside the process's allocated address space. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system. Fchmod will fail if: [EBADF] The descriptor is not valid. [EINVAL] Fd refers to a socket, not to a file. [EROFS] The file resides on a read-only file system. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system. SEE ALSO
chmod(1), open(2), chown(2), stat(2), sticky(8) 4th Berkeley Distribution May 13, 1986 CHMOD(2)
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CHMOD(2) BSD System Calls Manual CHMOD(2) NAME
chmod, fchmod -- change mode of file SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/stat.h> int chmod(const char *path, mode_t mode); int fchmod(int fd, mode_t mode); DESCRIPTION
The function chmod() sets the file permission bits of the file specified by the pathname path to mode. Fchmod() sets the permission bits of the specified file descriptor fd. Chmod() verifies that the process owner (user) either owns the file specified by path (or fd), or is the super-user. A mode is created from or'd permission bit masks defined in <sys/stat.h>: #define S_IRWXU 0000700 /* RWX mask for owner */ #define S_IRUSR 0000400 /* R for owner */ #define S_IWUSR 0000200 /* W for owner */ #define S_IXUSR 0000100 /* X for owner */ #define S_IRWXG 0000070 /* RWX mask for group */ #define S_IRGRP 0000040 /* R for group */ #define S_IWGRP 0000020 /* W for group */ #define S_IXGRP 0000010 /* X for group */ #define S_IRWXO 0000007 /* RWX mask for other */ #define S_IROTH 0000004 /* R for other */ #define S_IWOTH 0000002 /* W for other */ #define S_IXOTH 0000001 /* X for other */ #define S_ISUID 0004000 /* set user id on execution */ #define S_ISGID 0002000 /* set group id on execution */ #define S_ISVTX 0001000 /* save swapped text even after use */ The ISVTX (the sticky bit) indicates to the system which executable files are shareable (the default) and the system maintains the program text of the files in the swap area. The sticky bit may only be set by the super user on shareable executable files. If mode ISVTX (the `sticky bit') is set on a directory, an unprivileged user may not delete or rename files of other users in that directory. The sticky bit may be set by any user on a directory which the user owns or has appropriate permissions. For more details of the properties of the sticky bit, see sticky(8). Writing or changing the owner of a file turns off the set-user-id and set-group-id bits unless the user is the super-user. This makes the system somewhat more secure by protecting set-user-id (set-group-id) files from remaining set-user-id (set-group-id) if they are modified, at the expense of a degree of compatibility. RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. ERRORS
Chmod() will fail and the file mode will be unchanged if: [ENOTDIR] A component of the path prefix is not a directory. [ENAMETOOLONG] A component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX} characters, or an entire path name exceeded {PATH_MAX} characters. [ENOENT] The named file does not exist. [EACCES] Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix. [ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname. [EPERM] The effective user ID does not match the owner of the file and the effective user ID is not the super-user. [EROFS] The named file resides on a read-only file system. [EFAULT] Path points outside the process's allocated address space. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system. Fchmod() will fail if: [EBADF] The descriptor is not valid. [EINVAL] fd refers to a socket, not to a file. [EROFS] The file resides on a read-only file system. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system. SEE ALSO
chmod(1), open(2), chown(2), stat(2), sticky(8) STANDARDS
The chmod() function is expected to conform to IEEE Std 1003.1-1988 (``POSIX.1''). HISTORY
The fchmod() function call appeared in 4.2BSD. 4th Berkeley Distribution June 4, 1993 4th Berkeley Distribution