🔑 Special permission 🟢 A file permission ⚙️ To give permission

setuid

1 9.9

A Unix file permission that lets a user run a program with the owner's rights

noun

Specialized

: setuid

This is akin to the setuid feature in Unix, except that, instead of enabling system-high privilege for the entire program, in Java the privileged mode lasts only as long as the duration of the privileged method call.

Examples

For security, system administrators must review all setuid files regularly.
There is no file execute permission without read permission, and no setuid bit (though gates arguably provide a better alternative to both).

Academic text (2011)
The program requires setuid permissions to execute with the owner's privileges.
On Unix systems, the setuid flag allows users to run programs with elevated permissions.

Surface Forms

setuid singular

setuids plural

Morphology

setuid = set + uid

Although the term reflects the technical phrase 'set user ID', the compressed element 'uid' is not a standard standalone English morpheme, so the meaning is opaque for most learners.

Etymology

Setuid comes from the phrase set + user + ID, literally 'put the user's identity'. As a noun, a setuid is the special permission that makes a program run with the file owner's rights rather than the user who runs it.