RH124 chapter 7 on quiz Interpret Linux File System Permissions

[FernandoG]

Can anyone explain me why operator1 can delete all the files, even if he/she does not has write permission for app1.log ?

For context:

The system has four users that are assigned to the following groups:

• The consultant1 user is a member of the consultant1 and database1 groups.

• The operator1 user is a member of the operator1 and database1 groups.

• The contractor1 user is a member of the contractor1 and contractor3 groups.

• The operator2 user is a member of the operator2 and contractor3 groups.

The . special directory contains four files with the following permissions:

drwxrwxr-x.   operator1     database1     .
-rw-rw-r--.   consultant1   consultant1   app1.log
-rw-r--rw-.   consultant1   database1     app2.log
-rw-rw-r--.   operator1     database1     db1.conf
-rw-r-----.   operator1     database1     db2.conf

[Fran_Garcia · Accepted solution]

The delete operation is actually "unlinking a file from their parent directory". Since operator1 is the owner of the directory ("."), the user can perform any creation and deletion operation on that directory.

Hope this helps!