Permission issue!

[Bouelge]

Hi there,

I don't know why, but as owner of my PC, still I can't own all of my directories. Consequence, can't change anything under those directories where I don't have permission. I'm thinking, who's the boss? The PC or me?

Still, want to know how to get PERMANENT PERMISSION to ALL DATA on my hard drive. For example, I installed (through 'Software Manager') Alien Arena, but I can't change the settings because the config file is under my usr/share/games dir, and under this dir I have no permission and so I can't change or save anything... Same for Astromenace... etc...

Tx for helping me.

[DataMan]

Most likely, you will get yourself into major problems changing files in the "protected" areas UNLESS you know specifically what you're doing (as in there is a method to the ownership madness in Linux). That being said, one way to do this is to change the ownership and group identity via the command line. The two bash commands of interest to you are CHOWN and CHGRP. As a leaning experience, drop down to the command line and consult the man pages for specifics on each

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$ man chown
$ man chgrp

Additionally, you can edit specific files again in command line (without the need to change ownership on the directories) via:

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$ sudo gedit <file name>

Note for the above you will either need to put in the full path name to the file or be in the directory already.

Again, please do not start editing these files unless you know what you are doing. Most apps contain access to the settings via the app proper.

-DatamAN

[oobetimer]

Still, want to know how to get PERMANENT PERMISSION to ALL DATA on my hard drive. For example, I installed (through 'Software Manager') Alien Arena, but I can't change the settings because the config file is under my usr/share/games dir, and under this dir I have no permission and so I can't change or save anything... Same for Astromenace... etc...

Linux is not Windows and it is a good thing..

For avoiding allkind of problems, is good that there isn't a root-user. You can use sudo or gksudo if you need the root-rights..

An example:

gksudo gedit /usr/share/games/somefile.conf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudo

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RootSudo

[eiver]

Hi,

There is a way to get permanent access to all the files on the HDD via chown (you can change the ownership from root to your user) or you can become a member of the root group or you can use chmod to allow read, write and execute for all users, but you should NOT do any of these things! If you do, you will completely ruin Linux security.

You can do what you want another way and you won't even have to touch the command line .

First - all settings that you should be interested in is usually in your home folder (hidden files statring with a dot "."). Open your home folder and hit CTRL + H to see them.

Second - if you have the latest version of Mint (Isadora), then - simply right-click a file and choose "Open as Administrator"). You can also open any folder as administrator (root) in the same way. No command line necessary .

Eiver - a.k.a the GUI guy


P.S.

I'm thinking, who's the boss? The PC or me?

You're the boss, just make sure that you're a smart boss.

[Bouelge]

You're the boss, just make sure that you're a smart boss.

Yep, you're right. Being smart is not exactly my strongest characteristic,... had to reinstall Mint.... because of a complete lack of patience I guess... but hey, nobody was hurt and I had made a backup (phieww, THAT was clever )

Anyway, thanks everybody for the help. I really begin to like Linux Mint, much more fun than Windows.

grtz,

[eiver]

He, he. I didn't want to imply that you are not smart or anything offensive. Just wanted to point out, that you are really the boss in Linux as opposed to Windows and when using root privileges the system will allow you do to anything including deleting all files on your hard drive with a single mouse click.

The privilege system is not only to protect the system from the user, but also from all the programs he runs. Say you visit an evil website, which will use a bug in your browser and infect your machine with a virus. The virus will not be able destroy the system, because it only has limited privileges equal to what default user has.