problem editing sources.list

[odin the ravager]

My problem is when try to edit /etc/apt/sources.list as root, I get a weird error message, and kate (also kwrite) crashes. Even when I edit a text file as a user I get error messages (coincidentally, the same as the beginning of the root error messages). I have however been able to get around this, I simply chown sources.list to my user, edit it as normal, then change it's permissions back to root.

here is the error message when I try to edit a file with kate or kwrite:

X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
 Major opcode: 144
 Minor opcode: 3
 Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
 Major opcode: 144
 Minor opcode: 3
 Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device

just glancing over it looks like an X server error.
Specs: Kubuntu 6.06 running on a lenovo Thinkpad t60 (66u)
ATI x1400 graphics card: I think this is causing the problem, because there are no Xorg drivers.

any help is appreciated

[Volvo_Guy]

Re: problem editing sources.list

Hi,

So if you use Konqueror and browse to /ect/apt/sources.list, and right-click and edit as root, you can't open it? Is this a new install? I think I ran into a problem using Kate from a terminal trying to edit a file once and I just used the GUI ever since to edit files as root. Give it a shot. As far as xorg drivers for your ATI card, what does your xorg.conf file say?

Will

[aysiu]

Re: problem editing sources.list

What command are you using to run it? I hope it isn't

sudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list

It should be

kdesu kate /etc/apt/sources.list

[kubicle]

Re: problem editing sources.list

here is the error message when I try to edit a file with kate or kwrite:

X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
  Major opcode:  144
  Minor opcode:  3
  Resource id:  0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
  Major opcode:  144
  Minor opcode:  3
  Resource id:  0x0
Failed to open device

Those errors are a common annoyance, but they are not causing your crashes...these errors are from the 'wacom tablet' entries in xorg.conf (which are there even if you don't have such a device). You can comment out the appropiate sections in xorg.conf to get rid of the errors, but as mentioned, they're not causing your crashes. (If you're not sure what to comment out, search the forums for 'wacom' or 'X Error: BadDevice' and you should find more detailed instructions)

As aysiu pointed out, all GUI apps don't play nice with 'sudo' (though some work), always better to use 'kdesu' instead. If you were using kdesu, can you post the error messages you got (I understood from your original post there were other errors beside the X-errors you posted)

[odin the ravager]

Re: problem editing sources.list

Thanks for the quick responses.
I was using sudo, so I tried kdesu and it works flawlessly (albeit the warning I posted earlier). My only question is: what is the difference between kdesu & sudo?

as for the ATI driver in the xorg.conf file, it is VESA, which I understand is terribly slow, so I will try to upgrade that part next.
Thanks again!

[Fenyx]

Re: problem editing sources.list

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

Basically, using sudo to launch graphical apps could potentially ruin permissions and config files.