File Permission Access Modes - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 11 - SECURITY GUIDE 17-03-2009 Manual

21.7 File Permission Access Modes

File permission access modes consist of combinations of the following modes:
r
w
a
k
l
link file -> target
21.7.1 Read Mode (r)
Allows the program to have read access to the resource. Read access is required for
shell scripts and other interpreted content and determines if an executing process can
core dump.
21.7.2 Write Mode (w)
Allows the program to have write access to the resource. Files must have this permission
if they are to be unlinked (removed).
21.7.3 Append Mode (a)
Allows a program to write to the end of a file. In contrast to the w mode, the append
mode does not include the ability to overwrite data, to rename, or to remove a file. The
append permission is typically used with applications who need to be able to write to
log files, but which should not be able to manipulate any existing data in the log files.
Read mode
Write mode (mutually exclusive to a)
Append mode (mutually exclusive to w)
File locking mode
Link mode
Link pair rule (cannot be combined with other access
modes)
Profile Components and Syntax 209