Denied access to files

[Epunk]

Hi all. I'm very new to Linux, been using Kubuntu for only about a month now. I'm not a programmer either, so please excuse my ignorance. I started by running Feisty on my PS3 first and just installed Ibex on my new AMD64. I'm having the same problem on both though. When trying to access files in certain directories(like /etc or /usr), I am given a message saying the access is denied. For example, if I were to try to edit and save kboot.conf, I'm given-
"The document could not be saved, as it was not possible to write to file:///etc/kboot.conf.
Check that you have write access to this file or that enough disk space is available."

I also ran into the same problem with the new version of Flash (v. 10) that was just released. When I tried to put the .so file in the folder it belongs, I was given a similar error about lack of access. I tried moving it via both Dolphin and Konsole as the only user on the system.

I'm trying to get a feel for how everything works and get some programming /developing experience under my belt to contribute in the future, but its hard when I can't make some changes and inevitably screw things up so I can learn to fix them in the process.

Any ideas?

[Dat]

Re: Denied access to files

Open up a terminal and type this in:
sudo kate /path/to/file

That opens up the file in Kate as a super-user or whatever its called. Basically, it gives you permissions like if you were root. You should be able to modify that file and save it.

[Snowhog]

Re: Denied access to files

As to gaining 'root' permissions within Intrepid Ibex. To ways to approach this. If it's a file that you need to edit, press Alt+F2 and type:

kdesudo /usr/bin/kate path_to_file/file

replacing path_to_file/file with the full path to the file and the file name. Example:

kdesudo /usr/bin/kate /etc/fstab

This opens (as root) the file fstab located in the directory /etc using the text editor kate.

If you need to copy a file to a directory location that is owned/controlled by root, you have to do so while you have been granted sudo (root permissions). In a console, this is done by:

sudo cp some_file  path/some_file

where some_file is the name of the file (include the path if you aren't in the directory where it is located) and path/some_file is the path to the location that you want the file copied to, and some_file is the name to be used.

This is very basic info. If you look in the Forum you will find much on how to gain sudo privileges.

See howto install root options in dolphin/konqueror to have this ability added to Konqueror and Dolphin.

[Epunk]

Re: Denied access to files

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm sure this is very basic stuff, but as I said above, I'm new to Linux all together and am finding the transition pretty difficult. Nobody I actually know of in person uses it to help me along, and spending entire days looking through forums for unofficial answers(if you can find them at all) sucks, so I'm hoping to get it down soon somehow.

[Snowhog]

Re: Denied access to files

There isn't any inflection in typed messages. By 'basic' I didn't mean that to imply you should have known it. Instead, 'basic' means it's not in depth. Enough to enable you to do what you want quickly without a lot of hassle.

Linux is a challenging OS. Kubuntu is a bit more 'cutting edge' than other distros, which I like. If you come to Linux with a Windoze mindset on how things work, you will find working with Kubuntu Linux more of a challenge. If however, you keep an open mind, accepting that (for a while) some things you want/try to do are (very at times) different than what you have been used to, and are willing to take some time to learn, I think you will find it a lot of fun.

This forum is full of answers to question already asked. Take some time to study the layout. Discover where things are. Search. And ask questions when you need to.

Welcome to Linux and to the Kubuntu Forums.

[Apollo9]

Re: Denied access to files

The easy way to change permissions is Krusader. Install it from Adept. Krusader has two file browsers. One has a blue icon and the other has a red icon. The one with the red icon is the root version of Krusader. After installing it should be in the KDE menu in System.

To change permissions navigate to the file with root Krusader, right click on the file, click on “Properties” then click on the “Permissions” tab. Set “Access Permissions for Owner” as “Can View & Modify Content”. Set “Group” as “Can View Content”. Set “Ownership” by typing in your User Name for “User” and “Group”.

To change permissions on more than one file at a time just highlight any number of files in a folder, right click on a highlighted file, click Properties, Permissions tab and change settings as above.

Krusader can also change permissions on a folder and permissions on a folder and all the files in it at once. To change all the files in a folder put a check mark next to “Apply changes to all subfolders and their contents” and click OK.

If you want to use UNIX commands to change permissions an easy way to do that is to add a terminal to the default file browser in KDE. The file browser is called dolphin. In dolphin click View, Panels and put a check mark next to Terminal. With the terminal open in dolphin the terminal will always be in the same folder you've navigated to. To change permissions just type the UNIX commands to change permissions, the name of the file and press enter.

[Epunk]

Re: Denied access to files

Believe me, I dove head first into Kubuntu planning on having to learn everything from scratch, even the very basic stuff like using a terminal. "Cutting edge" is fine with me because I hope some day soon to be contributing to that edge(hopefully in a way that uses a terminal as little as possible LOL!). I appreciate any help I can get.

I think having the ability to launch Konsole from Dolphin will be very useful, thanks much for that tip. I had to go through Settings -> Configure Toolbars to get it set up on my Feisty, will do it later on my Intrepid.