HP-UX 11i Version 1.6 Release Notes

File and Disk Management
Directory Permissions
Chapter 4
62
Directory Permissions
Permissions and ownership of a number of directories has changed in HP-UX 11i v1.6.
Summary of Change
The permissions and ownership of the /tmp and /var/tmp directories has been changed.
Also, the/usr/local directory permission capabilities has been changed.
Details of Change
The most notable changes are that the permissions on the/tmp and /var/tmp directories
have changed from 0777 to 1777 thus setting the sticky bit. Additionally, /usr/local
and all of it’s sub-directories are no longer world writable. The ownership of /tmp and
/var/tmp has changed from bin:bin to root:root.
Impact
Refer to the Compatibility sub-section.
Compatibility
The changes in the permissions imply that if an application depends on the ability to
remove or rename a file that is owned by another user (under /tmp or /var/tmp), then
that application would fail. Similarly, if your user community is using the /usr/local/
directory to share applications informally, they would notice that this sharing is longer
possible beginning in HP-UX 11i v1.6.
If the older (and less restrictive) behavior is desired, change the permissions /tmp,
/var/tmp, /usr/local, /usr/local/[
* ] to 777.
Performance
Not applicable.
Obsolescence
Not applicable.
Documentation
No documentation changes were necessary.