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.\"     @(#)sticky.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93
.\" $FreeBSD: head/share/man/man7/sticky.7 263142 2014-03-14 03:07:51Z eadler $
.\"
.Dd June 5, 1993
.Dt STICKY 7
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm sticky
.Nd sticky text and append-only directories
.Sh DESCRIPTION
A special file mode, called the
.Em sticky bit
(mode S_ISTXT),
is used to indicate special treatment
for directories.
It is ignored for regular files.
See
.Xr chmod 2
or
the file
.In sys/stat.h
for an explanation of file modes.
.Sh STICKY DIRECTORIES
A directory whose `sticky bit' is set
becomes an append-only directory, or, more accurately,
a directory in which the deletion of files is restricted.
A file in a sticky directory may only be removed or renamed
by a user if the user has write permission for the directory and
the user is the owner of the file, the owner of the directory,
or the super-user.
This feature is usefully applied to directories such as
.Pa /tmp
which must be publicly writable but
should deny users the license to arbitrarily
delete or rename each others' files.
.Pp
Any user may create a sticky directory.
See
.Xr chmod 1
for details about modifying file modes.
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
command appeared in
.At 32v .
.Sh BUGS
Neither
.Xr open 2
nor
.Xr mkdir 2
will create a file with the sticky bit set.