[Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

ghoti · 2008-09-22 01:03:02

Hello everyone,

I am fairly new to Linux, and I'm getting confused with file permission. I have successfully installed ArchLinux on my two desktops: (1) an 8-year old custom AMD 1200, with 520 Mo of Ram, and a 32 Mo Nvidia GeForce2 MX/MMX 400 graphics card, and (2) a 3-year old Gateway AMD64 3500, with 2Go of Ram, and an onboard Nvidia GeForce 6100. Installing ArchLinux was relatively easy with the Installation Guide for beginners.

I installed the i686 version on the old AMD, with LXDE as the desktop manager, and the x86_64 on the newer computer, with OpenBox as the windows manager (no desktop manager for me, but Gnome for my wife). All the packages are up to date. I also installed yaourt. And because I came from DreamLinux (a Debian-based distro) and enjoyed Synaptic, I decided to install Shaman on both machines, even though I tend to use primarily the console to install packages. However, for some reasons that I do not understand, I can open Shaman on my old AMD, but I get a popup error message when I try to open it in the newer one:

Your settings file seems unwritable.
Please check permission on it

Here's the output from the terminal:

[ghoti@DARWIN ~]$ shaman
Translations are enabled. 
Loading translations from "/usr/share/shaman/translations/" 
Parsing  "core" 
Parser exited 
Parsing  "extra" 
Parser exited 
Parsing  "community" 
Parser exited 
Parsing  "archlinuxfr" 
Parser exited 
Log File should be: "" 
"core" ---> "http://holmes.umflint.edu/archlinux/core/os/x86_64" 
"extra" ---> "http://holmes.umflint.edu/archlinux/extra/os/x86_64" 
"community" ---> "http://holmes.umflint.edu/archlinux/community/os/x86_64" 
"archlinuxfr" ---> "http://repo.archlinux.fr/x86_64" 
Root privileges retired.

The file permission for shaman on the new computer is:

[ghoti@DARWIN ~]$ ls -l /usr/bin/shaman
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 1450992 2008-09-07 05:28

The file permission for shaman on the old computer is:

[ghoti@TREX ~]$ ls -l /usr/bin/shaman
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 1430456 2008-09-06 18:58

I tried to change the file permission (chmod 755) and ownership (chown ghoti:users) for Shaman on the new AMD, but that failed to start Shaman as well. I even removed Shaman (by clearing the cache for pacman) and re-installed it, but failed as well. I read the wiki on chmod, but I'm quite confused as to what I need to do now to make Shaman work (aside from using gksu shaman, which is not recommended).

Ghoti

Last edited by ghoti (2008-09-22 01:52:41)

Allan · 2008-09-22 01:09:27

I have no idea what the error means, but it seems to be a configuration file problem and not directly a shaman problem. What are the permissions of you /etc/pacman.conf file?

alanhaggai · 2008-09-22 01:20:05

As the error message says, it is a permission problem with the settings file: ~/.config/shaman/shaman.conf and not the binary.

Check the permissions attributed to that file. Chmod it to -rw-r--r--.

chmod 644 ~/.config/shaman/shaman.conf

Hope that solves the problem. By the way, you will, almost, never need to change the permissions of binaries in system directories.

ghoti · 2008-09-22 01:40:06

Thank you Allan for your quick response!

Here's the content of my pacman.conf file for my newer computer:

#
# /etc/pacman.conf
#
# See the pacman.conf(5) manpage for option and repository directives

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
# The following paths are commented out with their default values listed.
# If you wish to use different paths, uncomment and update the paths.
#RootDir     = /
#DBPath      = /var/lib/pacman/
#CacheDir    = /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
#LogFile     = /var/log/pacman.log
HoldPkg     = pacman glibc
# If upgrades are available for these packages they will be asked for first
SyncFirst   = pacman
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl %u > %o

# Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup
#IgnorePkg   =
#IgnoreGroup =

#NoUpgrade   =
NoUpgrade   = /etc/passwd /etc/group /etc/shadow /etc/sudoers
NoUpgrade   = /etc/fstab
NoUpgrade   = /etc/rc.conf /etc/rc.local
NoUpgrade   = /etc/modprobe.conf /etc/modules.conf
NoUpgrade   = /boot/grub/menu.lst

#NoExtract   =

# Misc options (all disabled by default)
#NoPassiveFtp
#UseSyslog
#ShowSize
#UseDelta
#TotalDownload

#
# REPOSITORIES
#   - can be defined here or included from another file
#   - pacman will search repositories in the order defined here
#   - local/custom mirrors can be added here or in separate files
#   - repositories listed first will take precedence when packages
#     have identical names, regardless of version number
#   - URLs will have $repo replaced by the name of the current repo
#
# Repository entries are of the format:
#       [repo-name]
#       Server = ServerName
#       Include = IncludePath
#
# The header [repo-name] is crucial - it must be present and
# uncommented to enable the repo.
#

# Testing is disabled by default.  To enable, uncomment the following
# two lines.  You can add preferred servers immediately after the header,
# and they will be used before the default mirrors.
#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[core]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[community]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# An example of a custom package repository.  See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs

#Yaourt repo
[archlinuxfr]
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/x86_64

The pacman.conf file is virtually the same for the old AMD with the following exceptions: LogFile is uncommented (though it is the same path as the default values), NoUpgrade = /etc/fstab not present in the old AMD, and the yaourt repo is set to i686.

Also, I have sudoers permission on both computers (gpasswd -a <username> wheel). I used visudo to modify the sudoers file. All I did was uncomment the lines that started with %wheel on both, and the %users lines in the sample section (with one exception - the line regarding mounting CDroms was left commented on the old AMD).

The other difference that I can think of between the two was that when I created the user ghoti on the old AMD, I set the Initial group to audio, and kept the default on the newer computer. When I issue the command ls -l in my home directory, the permissions look different. For instance, here's the output for the directory abs:

New: drwxr-xr-x 4 ghoti users 4096 2008-09-20 14:26 abs
Old: drwxr-xr-x 2 ghoti audio 4096 2008-09-18 23:52 abs

Ghoti

ghoti · 2008-09-22 01:52:14

Problem Solved! Thank you alanhaggai!

changing the file permission and ownership of the ~/.config/shaman/shaman.conf file did the trick! Here's what I did:

[ghoti@DARWIN ~]$ cd ~/.config/shaman
[ghoti@DARWIN shaman]$ ls -l shaman.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 888 2008-09-20 16:31 shaman.conf
[ghoti@DARWIN shaman]$ chmod 644 shaman.conf
chmod: changing permissions of `shaman.conf': Operation not permitted
[ghoti@DARWIN shaman]$ su
Password: 
bash-3.2# chmod 644 shaman.conf
bash-3.2# ls -l shaman.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 888 2008-09-20 16:31 shaman.conf
bash-3.2# chmod 755 shaman.conf
bash-3.2# ls -l shaman.conf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 888 2008-09-20 16:31 shaman.conf
bash-3.2# chown -R ghoti shaman.conf
bash-3.2# ls -l shaman.conf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 ghoti root 888 2008-09-20 16:31 shaman.conf

On my old AMD, it looks like this:

[ghoti@TREX ~]$ cd ~/.config/shaman
[ghoti@TREX shaman]$ ls -l shaman.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 ghoti audio 1313 2008-09-21 17:53 shaman.conf

Thank you all for your help,
Ghoti

archdave · 2008-10-15 02:51:09

None of these "fixes" are working for me.

Problem seemed to occur after changing to a two monitor configuration using nvidia-settings and twinview.

Last edited by archdave (2008-10-15 03:07:28)

stefanwilkens · 2008-12-19 19:43:03

running into simmilar problems, also using an nvidia.

I ended up finding out that my .config had root:myusername rights in stead of myusername:myusername

ended up having to reinstall as a buttload of software was unable to write their config files to .config and simply allowing them after did not solve the numerous issues I had.

wrc1944 · 2009-01-12 00:05:52

I just installed shaman, and it seemed to go well. However, trying to lanch I get:

Your settings file seems unwritable.
Please check permissions on it.

in a dialog box. Read the forums, but I get:

[wrc@myhost ~]$ ls -l shaman.conf
ls: cannot access shaman.conf: No such file or directory
USER or as ROOT

My initial proble is I don't even have ~/.config/shaman. I've tried reinstalling shaman, but still nothing's there. ~/.config DOES have folders for thunar and mousepad. This is on a perfectly functioning current Arch install, with markc's kdesvn packages.

[wrc@myhost ~]$ cd ~/.config/shaman
bash: cd: /home/wrc/.config/shaman: Permission denied
[wrc@myhost ~]$ su
Password: 
bash-3.2# cd ~/.config/shaman
bash: cd: /root/.config/shaman: No such file or directory
bash-3.2# ls -l shaman.conf
ls: cannot access shaman.conf: No such file or directory

I saw stefanwilkens last post, and am wary of changing permissions on ~/.config.

UPDATE: OK -shaman does start from a root command line, and doing that created the shaman.conf file, which is:

[gui]
startupmode=window
showsplashscreen=true

[scheduledUpdate]
enabled=true
interval=60
addupgradestoqueue=true

[absbuilding]
clearmakedepends=true
syncsupfiles=false
buildpath=/var/shaman/builds

Since shaman woiuld need to be root anyway to install/remove packages, I guess thins are OK- the shaman window that oped looks normal. Now to test it out.

Last edited by wrc1944 (2009-01-12 00:08:07)

gpan · 2009-02-22 08:40:35

I had the same problem as well and none of the above mentioned solutions fixed my problem. What I did is that I gave

gksudo nautilus

in terminal and went to .config in my home directory by clicking show hidden files. I made right click --> properties --> permissions and changed the owner to my username, that is gpan. After that my problem had been solved. The better way to fix this problem although is to type

chown -R gpan:users /home/gpan/.config

with root privileges in order to unlock all files located in that directory (.config).

Last edited by gpan (2009-02-22 10:30:37)

stefanwilkens · 2009-02-22 10:14:20

My logic: .config is in the home dir, it should be owned / editable by the user.

gpan · 2009-02-22 10:22:11

stefanwilkens wrote:

My logic: .config is in the home dir, it should be owned / editable by the user.

Νormally yes, but after doing the above steps, I had a padlock next to the .config folder (padlock means locked folder and we don't want that).

Last edited by gpan (2009-02-22 10:31:24)

655321 · 2009-12-15 09:54:22

A little help for me, same issue, running as root doesnt create that config file, so I figured I could just create the folder, manually create the file and paste the contents that wrc1944 pasted here, so the file will have the correct permissions and the error should dissapear, but NO, error still is there, BUT after this error shaman opens, I can update the database and process Queue, etc, but everytime I have to do this, I have to input the password.

Any help?

isaksen · 2010-01-09 10:32:28

I had the same problem when starting shaman as a regular user
"Your settings file seems unwritable.
Please check permission on it"

I lazy so I just (as root)

chmod 666 /home/$USER/.config/shaman/shaman.conf

it is still root that is the owner......

Then I a error saying :

It looks like the system policy prevents you from doing this action

then I followed
http://chakra-project.org/bbs/viewtopic.php?id=1625
post #7

I actually fixed it!
Edited the file as root: /usr/share/PolicyKit/policy/org.chakraproject.aqpmworker.policy
And this is how it look:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE policyconfig PUBLIC
"-//freedesktop//DTD PolicyKit Policy Configuration 1.0//EN"
"http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/Po … config.dtd">
<policyconfig>
<vendor>Aqpm - ArchLinux Package Management</vendor>
<vendor_url>http://chakra-project.org/</vendor_url>
<icon_name>shaman</icon_name>
<action id="org.chakraproject.aqpm.updatedatabase">
<description>Update Database</description>
<message>Prevents the Package Manager from updating the Database</message>
<defaults>
<allow_any>yes</allow_any>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>
<action id="org.chakraproject.aqpm.systemupgrade">
<description>System Upgrade</description>
<message>Prevents the Package Manager from upgrading the system</message>
<defaults>
<allow_any>yes</allow_any>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>
<action id="org.chakraproject.aqpm.processqueue">
<description>Process queue</description>
<message>Prevents the Package Manager from processing a package queue</message>
<defaults>
<allow_any>yes</allow_any>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>
<action id="org.chakraproject.aqpm.downloadqueue">
<description>Process queue</description>
<message>Prevents the Package Manager from downloading a package queue</message>
<defaults>
<allow_any>yes</allow_any>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>
<action id="org.chakraproject.aqpm.saveconfiguration">
<description>Save pacman configuration</description>
<message>Prevents the Package Manager from saving the configuration</message>
<defaults>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>auth_admin</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>
<action id="org.chakraproject.aqpm.addmirror">
<description>Add a mirror to Pacman</description>
<message>Prevents the Package Manager from adding a new mirror</message>
<defaults>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>auth_admin_keep_always</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>
<action id="org.chakraproject.aqpm.performmaintenance">
<description>Performs a maintenance operation on the package system</description>
<message>Prevents the Package Manager from performing a maintenance action</message>
<defaults>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>auth_admin</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>
</policyconfig>
What I did was under some of the <defaults> lines I added <allow_any>yes</allow_any> and that fixed they greyed out buttons!
Cheers!

and then 'wuptii' it worked, but is this the right way to do this? there must be an arch Guru somewhere!

I do not know if this will help but I have also configure my X to run nvidia .... I have just migrated to Arch

Last edited by isaksen (2010-01-09 12:44:51)

Misfit138 · 2010-01-09 15:40:51

Zombie.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … Bumping.27

Arch Linux

#1 2008-09-22 01:03:02

[Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#2 2008-09-22 01:09:27

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#3 2008-09-22 01:20:05

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#4 2008-09-22 01:40:06

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#5 2008-09-22 01:52:14

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#6 2008-10-15 02:51:09

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#7 2008-12-19 19:43:03

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#8 2009-01-12 00:05:52

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#9 2009-02-22 08:40:35

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#10 2009-02-22 10:14:20

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#11 2009-02-22 10:22:11

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#12 2009-12-15 09:54:22

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#13 2010-01-09 10:32:28

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

#14 2010-01-09 15:40:51

Re: [Solved]Permission denied to use Shaman

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