.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991 Regents of the University of California. .\" All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" from: @(#)setuid.3 6.4 (Berkeley) 4/19/91 .\" $Id: setuid.2,v 1.2 1994/04/10 00:16:58 cgd Exp $ .\" .Dd April 19, 1991 .Dt SETUID 2 .Os BSD 4.2 .Sh NAME .Nm setuid , .Nm seteuid , .Nm setgid , .Nm setegid .Nd set user and group ID .Sh SYNOPSIS .Fd #include .Fd #include .Ft int .Fn setuid "uid_t uid" .Ft int .Fn seteuid "uid_t euid" .Ft int .Fn setgid "gid_t gid" .Ft int .Fn setegid "gid_t egid" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn setuid function sets the real and effective user IDs and the saved set-user-ID of the current process to the specified value. The .Fn setuid function is permitted if the specified ID is equal to the real user ID of the process, or if the effective user ID is that of the super user. .Pp The .Fn setgid function sets the real and effective group IDs and the saved set-group-ID of the current process to the specified value. The .Fn setgid function is permitted if the specified ID is equal to the real group ID of the process, or if the effective user ID is that of the super user. .Pp The .Fn seteuid function sets the effective user ID of the current process. The effective user ID may be set to the value of the real user ID or the saved set-user-ID (see .Xr intro 2 and .Xr execve 2 ); in this way, the effective user ID of a set-user-ID executable may be toggled by switching to the real user ID, then re-enabled by reverting to the set-user-ID value. Similarly, with .Fn setegid the effective group ID may be set to the value of the real group ID or the saved set-user-ID. .Sh RETURN VALUES Upon success, these functions return 0; otherwise \-1 is returned. .Pp If the user is not the super user, or the uid (gid) specified is not the real ID, effective ID, or saved ID of the process, these functions return \-1. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr getuid 2 , .Xr getgid 2 .Sh HISTORY The .Fn setuid and .Fn setgid functions are compliant with the .St -p1003.1-88 specification with .Li _POSIX_SAVED_IDS not defined. The .Fn seteuid and .Fn setegid functions are extensions based on the .Tn POSIX concept of .Li _POSIX_SAVED_IDS , and have been proposed for a future revision of the standard.