'sudo' causes 'libusb' permission err -- Mint-12 & Cinnamon

[SaintDanBert]

===== Post renamed from: " 'sudo' versus device permissions " =====

When I run 'sudo' I see the following:

Code: Select all

Prompt$  sudo emacs foo.bar

[color=#FF4000]libusb couldn't open USB device /dev/bus/usb/001/004: Permission denied.
libusb requires write access to USB device nodes.[/color]
[sudo] password for username:


If I open a console using CTRL-ALT-F1, I don't get the permissions error.

When I look deeper, I see the following:

Code: Select all

prompt$  sudo  ls -lh  /dev/bus/usb/001/*

crw-rw-r-- 1 root root    189, 0 2012-06-04 10:25 /dev/bus/usb/001/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root    189, 1 2012-06-04 10:25 /dev/bus/usb/001/002
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root    189, 2 2012-06-04 10:25 /dev/bus/usb/001/003
[color=#FF0040]crw-rw-r-- 1 root plugdev 189, 3 2012-06-04 10:25 /dev/bus/usb/001/004[/color]
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root    189, 4 2012-06-04 10:25 /dev/bus/usb/001/005
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root    189, 5 2012-06-04 10:25 /dev/bus/usb/001/006


If I alter the permissions on the affected device:

Code: Select all

prompt$  sudo  chown  --verbose --recursive  root:root  /dev/bus/usb/001/004


The 'sudo' error will go away for a while only to return for reasons unknown.
My attempts to track down "plugdev" have had no joy.
Any help to resolve this will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
~~~ 8d;-/ Dan

[SaintDanBert]

bump...

does anyone have a clue what is stepping on the ownership of this USB device?

the string plugdev appears in /etc/group.
Some web search results suggest that this is some hot-plug or similar feature of 'udev' but I continue
to struggle tracking down details.

~~~ 0;-Dan

[SaintDanBert]

Still working to solve this with Mint-12 and could really REALLY use some help.

It seems that 'sudo' simply causes the on-screen error messages from 'libusb' for some reason.
The errors appear even if the /dev/bus/usb/001/* devices are all root:root so I don't know
what is going on.

Someone with knowledge about GID=plugdev please speak up.

very frustrated,
~~~ 0;-/ Dan

[SaintDanBert]

I've run " strace sudo " in an Xterm and a console both as a plain user and as root. I dont' find any access to 'libusb' but I continue
to get these error messages.

I thought about corrupt files and so re-installed the 'sudo' and 'libusb' packages. Did I mention that I'm running 64-bit?

I created a separate user login and enabled them for 'sudo' use. That login does not result in the errors ... so far.

Suggestions please,
~~~ 8d;-/ Dan

[SaintDanBert]

I've run " strace sudo " in an Xterm and a console both as a plain user and as root. I dont' find any access to 'libusb' but I continue
to get these error messages.

I thought about corrupt files and so re-installed the 'sudo' and 'libusb' packages. Did I mention that I'm running 64-bit?

I created a separate user login and enabled them for 'sudo' use. That login does not result in the errors ... so far.

Suggestions please,
~~~ 8d;-/ Dan