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!<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 9:13 PM, Matthew Holland <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mdholland@ucdavis.edu">mdholland@ucdavis.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
You need to learn about UNIX permissions. There is no reason you<br>
shouldn't be able to change the permissions on the file with sudo<br>
commands. As Jeff suggested, there are plenty of reasons why this may<br>
not be a good thing to do, but it could be fine. No one can really<br>
tell from what you have told us whether it's in the Very Bad Idea<br>
category, or not. If this header belongs to the system (e.g., it's in<br>
/usr/include or /Library, or pretty much anywhere but /Users), then<br>
modifying it is probably not a good idea.<br>
<br>
You should read the man pages for "chown" and "chmod" and read about<br>
UNIX permissions in general. If the user that you are logged in as is<br>
an administrator, you should be able to change the ownership of the<br>
file with a command like:<br>
<br>
$ sudo chown file username<br>
<br>
where "file" is the name of the file, and "username" is the name of<br>
the user to whom you want to transfer ownership of the file. It's<br>
possible that the file is still read-only at this point, depending on<br>
the file permissions. If so, and you really want to do this, you can<br>
issue a command like<br>
<br>
$ chmod u+w file<br>
<br>
Keep in mind that a little knowledge can be dangerous, and think<br>
clearly about what you're doing before you change the ownership or<br>
permissions of any file owned by root. Usually there is a good reason<br>
for root ownership. This is probably why you haven't received a lot<br>
of help, because no one wants to help you break system-owned files.<br>
<br>
Matt<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 8:54 PM, Anahita Yazdi <<a href="mailto:atyazdi@ucdavis.edu">atyazdi@ucdavis.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
> I need to make changes on a header file but the file is read only for me. I<br>
> need to enable the root user account. How would I be able to do that?<br>
><br>
> On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 8:09 PM, Jeff Newmiller <<a href="mailto:jdnewmil@dcn.davis.ca.us">jdnewmil@dcn.davis.ca.us</a>><br>
> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> In order to obtain more detailed help you must provide a more detailed<br>
>> question.<br>
>><br>
>> "Anahita Yazdi" <<a href="mailto:atyazdi@ucdavis.edu">atyazdi@ucdavis.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> >I am confused then so what should I do to overcome the problem. I will<br>
>> >really be appreciated for more detailed help please<br>
>> >Thanks a lot<br>
>> >Anahita<br>
>> ><br>
>> >On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 5:26 PM, Jeff Newmiller<br>
>> > <<a href="mailto:jdnewmil@dcn.davis.ca.us">jdnewmil@dcn.davis.ca.us</a>>wrote:<br>
>> ><br>
>> >> Sounds to me like the file is read-only and I would strongly encourage<br>
>> >> you<br>
>> >> to desist in your attempts to modify it. You are very unlikely to<br>
>> >> obtain the<br>
>> >> results you desire by making such a change.<br>
>> >><br>
>> >> "Anahita Yazdi" <<a href="mailto:atyazdi@ucdavis.edu">atyazdi@ucdavis.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
>> >><br>
>> >> >Hi,<br>
>> >> >I am working on a Mac OS X 10.6.2, I installed a software program<br>
>> >> > through<br>
>> >> >terminal and wanted to change some details on one of its header files<br>
>> >> >(extension *.h) however I am getting a permission denied error in<br>
>> >> > terminal<br>
>> >> >when I open it as a "vi" file. I tried "sudo" but it is still not<br>
>> >> > working.<br>
>> >> >It is a file that is apparently owned by the root. I tried to<br>
>> >> disable/enable<br>
>> >> >the root on this system from apple's official discussion page but the<br>
>> >> option<br>
>> >> >"edit" in "Open Directory Utility" is missing. Where else would I be<br>
>> >> > able<br>
>> >> to<br>
>> >> >perform such task on my system?<br>
>> >> >Thanks a bunch,<br>
>> >> >Anahita<br>
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>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
>> Jeff Newmiller The ..... ..... Go<br>
>> Live...<br>
>> DCN:<<a href="mailto:jdnewmil@dcn.davis.ca.us">jdnewmil@dcn.davis.ca.us</a>> Basics: ##.#. ##.#. Live<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br>