Linux - why am i allowed to remove root file?

Question

Situation as follows: i do su to root, then i create admin file with

cat > adminfile

then i exit from root issuing exit command

i can see following adminfile options

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10 2010-06-16 16:25 adminfile

however, after executing rm adminfile it really gets removed

-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root   10 2010-06-16 16:25 adminfile
reinis@reinis-desktop:~/Test/script$ rm adminfile
rm: remove write-protected regular file `adminfile'?

tada.. file is gone!

As i see it - others have only read permision for that file so they shouldnot be able to remove it.. :/

Answer 1

You have write permission on the directory so you can remove any file from it.

Deleting or creating a file is modifying the directory so you need appropriate permissions on the that, rather than the file itself. If you want to be able to modify the file, you'll need write permissions on the file.

Similarly, you need read permission on a directory before you can see which files are in that directory and then you'll need read permission on the files themselves if you want to see what in each file.

Answer 2

The owner of a directory is allowed to delete any files owned by other users.