On Wed, 10 Dec 1997, Rob Windsor wrote:

: >      chown(), lchown() and fchown() clear the set-user-id and set-group-id
: >      bits on the file to prevent accidental or mischievous creation of set-us-
: >      er-id and set-group-id programs.
: 
: > This is a feature, not a bug.
: 
: Which is why I filed a change-request.

Then I propose thus:

A sysctl for making root access preserve set-id bits in chown (as non-root
requires the above behavior as per POSIX and cannot be changed).

In addition, as a sidelong addition, the ability to turn
_POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED off via a sysctl.  :) 

=====
== Todd Vierling (Personal tv@pobox.com; Business tv@lucent.com)
== Vierling's Axiom: The revolution won't be televised; it will be posted.