[SOLVED] ksmserverrc not writable?

[h4x0rmx]

I just installed KDE SC 4.4 on Ubuntu 9.10 successfully after a couple of tries. When I tried to login for the first time I received this message:
'Configuration file "/home/user/.kde/share/config/ksmserverrc" not writable. Please contact your system administrator'

I'm guessing that it has to do with the permissions, but how do I solve it?
Please be as explicit as you can. I'll appreciate it!

[Snowhog]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

Open a console and type:

ls -l .kde/share/config/ksmserverrc

You should see that your user is the owner of the file. In my case (paul) the result shows as:

-rw------- 1 paul paul 4776 2010-02-25 12:59 ksmserverrc

IF your output of this file doesn't show your user as the owner, it can be corrected. Please post the output of the command above in your reply.

[h4x0rmx]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

This is what I get
-rw------- 1 root root 42 2010-01-09 13:17 ksmserverrc

[I just noticed that I get the same error message when I try to open any KDE application in gnome]

[Snowhog]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

"root root" isn't a good omen, but let's hope that that is the only file affected.

Open a console (if you aren't already in one) and type:

ls -la

and copy and paste the output into your reply. All of the listed files, to include the hidden files, should not show as being owned by root.

[h4x0rmx]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

Most of them are owned by root

~/.kde/share/config$ ls -la
total 288
drwx------ 3 h4x0r h4x0r 4096 2010-02-25 22:49 .
drwx------ 4 h4x0r h4x0r 4096 2009-12-01 19:13 ..
-rw------- 1 root root  458 2010-01-09 13:17 cervisiapartrc
-rw------- 1 root root   81 2010-01-09 13:17 cervisiarc
-rw------- 1 root root  110 2010-01-09 13:17 cvsservicerc
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  40 2010-02-25 22:49 drkonqirc
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  112 2010-01-09 17:22 emaildefaults
-rw------- 1 root root  125 2010-01-09 13:17 emailidentities
-rw------- 1 root root  126 2010-01-09 13:17 kalarmrc
-rw------- 1 root root   75 2009-12-01 19:16 katepartpluginsrc
-rw------- 1 root root  1592 2009-12-01 19:13 katepartscriptrc
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r 1630 2010-02-25 16:41 katerc
-rw------- 1 root root 42558 2010-01-09 13:17 katesyntaxhighlightingrc
-rw------- 1 root root   67 2010-01-09 13:17 kcalcrc
-rw------- 1 root root   41 2010-01-09 13:17 kcharselectrc
-rw------- 1 root root   37 2010-01-09 13:17 kcmaudiocdrc
-rw------- 1 root root   71 2010-01-09 13:17 kcmcddbrc
-rw------- 1 root root   45 2010-01-09 13:17 kcmdisplayrc
-rw------- 1 root root   56 2010-01-09 13:17 kcminputrc
-rw------- 1 root root  5040 2010-01-09 13:17 kconf_updaterc
-rw------- 1 root root   76 2009-12-01 19:13 kcookiejarrc
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  285 2010-02-25 22:49 kdebugrc
-rw------- 1 root root   39 2009-12-01 19:13 kdedrc
-rw------- 1 root root  508 2010-01-09 13:17 kdeglobals
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r 2154 2010-02-25 21:04 kdeveloprc
-rw------- 1 root root   55 2010-01-09 13:17 kfmclientrc
-rw------- 1 root root  122 2010-01-09 13:17 kglobalshortcutsrc
-rw------- 1 root root   69 2009-12-01 19:13 kio_httprc
-rw------- 1 root root   92 2009-12-01 19:13 kioslaverc
-rw------- 1 root root   71 2010-01-09 13:17 klipperrc
-rw------- 1 root root   59 2010-01-09 13:17 kmail.eventsrc
-rw------- 1 root root  725 2010-01-09 13:17 kmailrc
-rw------- 1 root root   66 2010-01-09 13:17 knoderc
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  45 2010-01-09 17:26 knotesrc
-rw------- 1 root root   60 2010-01-09 13:17 konqsidebartng.rc
-rw------- 1 root root   55 2010-01-09 13:17 konquerorrc
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  251 2010-02-25 22:49 konsolerc
-rw------- 1 root root  454 2010-01-09 13:17 kopeterc
-rw------- 1 root root  237 2010-01-09 13:17 korganizerrc
-rw------- 1 root root   77 2010-01-09 13:17 kpatrc
-rw------- 1 root root  158 2010-01-09 13:17 kpgprc
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root  4096 2010-01-09 13:17 kresources
-rw------- 1 root root   42 2010-01-09 13:17 ksmserverrc
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  16 2010-01-09 17:09 ktimerrc
-rw------- 1 root root  122 2009-12-01 19:20 ktimezonedrc
-rw------- 1 root root   58 2009-12-01 19:13 kuriikwsfilterrc
-rw------- 1 root root   81 2010-01-09 13:17 kwin.eventsrc
-rw------- 1 root root  173 2010-01-09 13:17 kwinrc
-rw------- 1 root root  163 2010-01-09 13:17 kwinrulesrc
-rw------- 1 root root   63 2010-01-09 13:17 libkcal_htmlexportrc
-rw------- 1 root root   71 2010-01-09 13:17 libkleopatrarc
-rw------- 1 root root  109 2010-01-09 13:17 mailtransports
-rw------- 1 root root   22 2009-12-01 19:13 phonondevicesrc
-rw------- 1 root root   85 2009-12-01 19:13 plasma-desktop-appletsrc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   85 2009-12-01 19:13 plasma-desktoprc
-rw------- 1 root root   85 2009-12-01 19:13 plasmarc
-rw------- 1 root root   85 2009-12-01 19:13 plasmoidviewer-appletsrc
-rw-r--r-- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  560 2010-02-25 21:05 startupconfig
-rw-r--r-- 1 h4x0r h4x0r 1352 2010-02-25 21:05 startupconfigfiles
-rw-r--r-- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  276 2010-02-25 21:45 startupconfigkeys
-rw------- 1 h4x0r h4x0r  161 2010-01-12 20:55 systemsettingsrc

[Snowhog]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

Sort of thought that would turn out to be the case.

From in the console:

Type cd and press Enter. This will put you into the top level of your users home directory.
Type:

sudo chown -R h4x0r:h4x0r /home/h4x0r

Best to just copy the code above and paste it into the console.

This will change the ownership and group from root root to h4x0r h4x0r on all files and directories within /home/h4x0r which is what is needed.

[h4x0rmx]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

This is what I get:

$ sudo chown -R h4x0r:h4x0r /home/h4x0r
chown: cannot access `/home/h4x0r/.gvfs': Permission denied

[Snowhog]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

Were you prompted for your password?

[h4x0rmx]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

I was the first time, but I had misspelled chown. No that I enter it correctly I get that message

[Snowhog]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

We need to see how much of the damage has been fixed, or still needs to be fixed. First, because I need to know you are at the correct 'starting point,' close any console you have open. Then open a single console and type pwd and verify that it shows /home/h4x0r If it does not show this, then type: cd /home/h4x0r and press Enter.

Now type: ls -Rla > h4x0r.txt

This will create the file h4x0r.txt containing the output of ls -la for all directories in and under /home/h4x0r which you can then upload in your reply by clicking on the Additional Options... link and navigating to /home/h4x0r and clicking on the file.

This will allow me/us to see what got changed and what still needs to be changed.

[h4x0rmx]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

It's fixed!
I did what you told me and I looked at the file. All the files listed there were now h4x0r's and not root's.
I was able to login to KDE.
Thanks!!!

[Snowhog]

Re: ksmserverrc not writable?

Good. Happy you got it fixed.

How your /home/h4xr0r directory and all of its contents got changed is almost 100% due to you having run a GUI application -- Dolphin maybe? -- as 'root' from the CLI with: sudo dolphin << DON'T EVER USE THIS UNLESS YOU WANT TO GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS AGAIN

If you need to use a GUI application 'as root' you launch the app from the CLI with: kdesudo application_name

The difference between sudo and kdesudo is that sudo uses the logged in user's profile - in your case, that of h4xr0r - and working on files this way, can, as it did here, change the ownership:group identification on all your users files to root:root making it impossible to log back in after logging out - until you change it all back as addressed in this thread.

On the otherhand, kdesudo preserves the integrity of your users /home directory and all it's contents.

[h4x0rmx]

Re: [SOLVED] ksmserverrc not writable?

Is kdesudo only for kde apps?

I think you're right... my problem was that I was trying to edit the grub.conf file, so I launched some text editor with sudo. I can't think of anything else that could've changed anything.

Thanks for your help once again!

[Snowhog]

Re: [SOLVED] ksmserverrc not writable?

Is kdesudo only for kde apps?

For launching Graphical Applications, yes. From the CLI, if you need root permission to execute a 'single command' that does not involve a GUI application, you use sudo. Example: I need to edit a file owned by root, say, /etc/grub.d/00_header, and I use the vi CLI editor. I would use sudo:

sudo vi /etc/grub.d/00_header

This opens the file, using vi, with permissions of root. I can now edit this root owned file, make changes, and save it.