On Unix-like operating systems including Linux, the root is the account or user name that by default can modify all directories and files on a system. In this article, we’ll show how to make directories or files unremovable even by the root user in Linux.
To make a file undeletable by any system user, including root, you need to make it unmodifiable using the chattr command. These command changes file attributes on a Linux file system.
How to Make File Undeletable in Linux
The command below makes /backups/passwd file immutable (or undeletable). This implies that the file can’t be modified in any way: it can’t be deleted or renamed. You can’t even create a link to it and no data can be written to the file as well.
Note that you need superuser privileges to set or remove this attribute, using the sudo command:
$ sudo chattr +i /backups/passwd OR $ sudo chattr +i -V /backups/passwd
To view attributes of a file, use the lsattr command as shown.
$ lsattr /backups/passwd
Now try to remove the immutable file, both as a normal user and as a root.
$ rm /backups/passwd $ sudo rm /backups/passwd
How to Recursively Make Directory Undeletable in Linux
Using the -R flag, you can recursively change attributes of directories and their contents as follows.
$ sudo chattr +i -RV /backups/
To make a file mutable again, use -i sign to remove the above attribute, as follows.
$ sudo chattr -i /backups/ passwd
