[vox-tech] Permission Denied Error

Anahita Yazdi atyazdi at ucdavis.edu
Thu Jul 8 21:58:06 PDT 2010 

Thank you very much. I am so very sorry if my issue is being a little
confusing. In fact I need to change the header files of a program that I
installed on this system. They arent files that could potentially harm my
system at all. Its a visualizer software. All I need is to change a few
numbers on the header file for scaling purposes. It wont really cause any
problem on the system that is why its not a bad idea at all. I just dont get
why the file appears to be "read-only" to me. Before, I used to make changes
on this header file without any problem. So this is something completely
new. All I need is to know why I lost the permission and how can I again fix
the problem. Because I realized its not only for this header file that my
permission fails but also its any other file I open I dont have permission
to make changes on it!

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 9:13 PM, Matthew Holland <mdholland at ucdavis.edu>wrote:

> You need to learn about UNIX permissions.  There is no reason you
> shouldn't be able to change the permissions on the file with sudo
> commands.  As Jeff suggested, there are plenty of reasons why this may
> not be a good thing to do, but it could be fine.  No one can really
> tell from what you have told us whether it's in the Very Bad Idea
> category, or not.  If this header belongs to the system (e.g., it's in
> /usr/include or /Library, or pretty much anywhere but /Users), then
> modifying it is probably not a good idea.
>
> You should read the man pages for "chown" and "chmod" and read about
> UNIX permissions in general.  If the user that you are logged in as is
> an administrator, you should be able to change the ownership of the
> file with a command like:
>
> $ sudo chown file username
>
> where "file" is the name of the file, and "username" is the name of
> the user to whom you want to transfer ownership of the file.  It's
> possible that the file is still read-only at this point, depending on
> the file permissions.  If so, and you really want to do this, you can
> issue a command like
>
> $ chmod u+w file
>
> Keep in mind that a little knowledge can be dangerous, and think
> clearly about what you're doing before you change the ownership or
> permissions of any file owned by root.  Usually there is a good reason
> for root ownership.  This is probably why you haven't received a lot
> of help, because no one wants to help you break system-owned files.
>
> Matt
>
> On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 8:54 PM, Anahita Yazdi <atyazdi at ucdavis.edu> wrote:
> > I need to make changes on a header file but the file is read only for me.
> I
> > need to enable the root user account. How would I be able to do that?
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 8:09 PM, Jeff Newmiller <jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us
> >
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> In order to obtain more detailed help you must provide a more detailed
> >> question.
> >>
> >> "Anahita Yazdi" <atyazdi at ucdavis.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >> >I am confused then so what should I do to overcome the problem. I will
> >> >really be appreciated for more detailed help please
> >> >Thanks a lot
> >> >Anahita
> >> >
> >> >On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 5:26 PM, Jeff Newmiller
> >> > <jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us>wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Sounds to me like the file is read-only and I would strongly
> encourage
> >> >> you
> >> >> to desist in your attempts to modify it. You are very unlikely to
> >> >> obtain the
> >> >> results you desire by making such a change.
> >> >>
> >> >> "Anahita Yazdi" <atyazdi at ucdavis.edu> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> >Hi,
> >> >> >I am working on a Mac OS X 10.6.2, I installed a software program
> >> >> > through
> >> >> >terminal and wanted to change some details on one of its header
> files
> >> >> >(extension *.h) however I am getting a permission denied error in
> >> >> > terminal
> >> >> >when I open it as a "vi" file. I tried "sudo" but it is still not
> >> >> > working.
> >> >> >It is a file that is apparently owned by the root. I tried to
> >> >> disable/enable
> >> >> >the root on this system from apple's official discussion page but
> the
> >> >> option
> >> >> >"edit" in "Open Directory Utility" is missing. Where else would I be
> >> >> > able
> >> >> to
> >> >> >perform such task on my system?
> >> >> >Thanks a bunch,
> >> >> >Anahita
> >> >> >_______________________________________________
> >> >> >vox-tech mailing list
> >> >> >vox-tech at lists.lugod.org
> >> >> >http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >> >> /Software/Embedded Controllers)               .OO#.       .OO#.
> >> >>  rocks...1k
> >> >>
> >> >>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >> >_______________________________________________
> >> >vox-tech mailing list
> >> >vox-tech at lists.lugod.org
> >> >http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
> >>
> >>
> >>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> Jeff Newmiller                        The     .....       .....  Go
> >> Live...
> >> DCN:<jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us>        Basics: ##.#.       ##.#.  Live
> >> Go...
> >>                                      Live:   OO#.. Dead: OO#..  Playing
> >> Research Engineer (Solar/Batteries            O.O#.       #.O#.  with
> >> /Software/Embedded Controllers)               .OO#.       .OO#.
> >>  rocks...1k
> >>
> >>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.
> >> _______________________________________________
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