Sun Microsystems Sun Workstation 100U System Manager's Manual page 254

STICKY(8)
MAINTENANCE COMMANDS
STICKY(8)
NAME
sticky - executable files with persistent text
DESCRIPTION
While the 'sticky bit', mode 01000 (see chmod(2)), is set on a sharable executable file, the text of
that file will not be removed from the system swap area. Thus the file does not have to be
fetched from the file system upon each execution. As long as a copy remains in the swap area,
the original text cannot be overwritten in the file system, nor can the file be deleted. Directory
entries can be removed so long as one link remains.
Sharable files are made by the
-z
option or
Id(I).
To replace a sticky file that has been used do: (1) Clear the sticky bit with
chmod(I). (2) Execute
the old program to flush the swapped copy. This can be done safely even if others are using it.
(3)
Overwrite the sticky file. If the file
is
being executed by any process, writing will be
prevented; it suffices to simply remove the file and then rewrite it, being careful to reset the
owner and mode with
chmod and chown(2).
(4)
Set the sticky bit again.
Only the super-user can set the sticky bit.
Sun Release 1.1 Last change: 28 October 1983 99