Program permissions for non root users

mabender · 2009-05-25 03:53:44

So I installed a bunch of apps under root when I was setting up a fluxbox desktop. Now when I try to start something as another user I get a no permission error, which I figured. What is the best way to solve this?

Moo-Crumpus · 2009-05-25 04:20:31

Depending of which apps, which files? Bunch of apps, something ... gimme a cake!:)

mabender · 2009-05-25 04:25:15

wvdial is the biggest problem. it's my only way to get the net. other than that, there's about 7 or 8 of 'em, like firefox, abiword, nedit, aterm, xarchiver, xfe, etc. Sounds like you're saying I'm gonna have to track down and change permissions on a bunch of files.

tdy · 2009-05-25 04:36:56

mabender wrote:

So I installed a bunch of apps under root

I'm not even sure what this means.. isn't that how apps are usually installed?

Allan · 2009-05-25 04:42:49

This is why it is always good to install stuff using your package manager...

mabender · 2009-05-25 07:31:03

I did install all the programs with pacman. I think the problem was I was logged into x and fluxbox when I installed them, as root. I guess I'm not sure what's the best way to install programs so multiple users can access them in the desktop. Login as root and use pacman from the command line, or login as a user and run pacman in x.

Vintendo · 2009-05-25 08:58:34

If pacman installs them any user can acces them, it doesn't matter how you start pacman.

Chokkan · 2009-05-25 11:29:46

With wvdial, I use sudo and then I point it to a config file (wvdial.conf) in my home folder.

dmartins · 2009-05-25 15:51:54

I can see wvdial needing root permissions or for your user to be in a specific group so you can access a certain device node in /dev, but the rest of the programs you listed, should just work.

What exactly is the error?
Where are you seeing it? (when running the program from a terminal, or does it pop up in a dialog box?)
How did you create your user's home directory?
What's the output from "ls -l /home"?

mabender · 2009-05-26 01:32:23

Here's the error I'm getting when I run wvdial, all in the terminal.

--> Cannot open dev/ttyUSB0: Permission Denied

The output from /home is
drwx------ mike:users

I created the user with adduser as root. I've tried adding all the groups with usermod , even root, to see if that would get rid of the error with no luck. I suspect sudo and a separate wvdial.conf file will work for now.

dmartins · 2009-05-26 01:48:31

Okay, so using "ls -l", find out which group /dev/ttyUSB0 belongs to.
Chances are, /dev/ttyUSB0 is actually a symlink to /dev/tts/USB0 and that it is owned by the uucp group. Have you added your user to that group and tried using wvdial? (After adding your user to a group you have to log out and back in for it to take effect.)

mabender · 2009-05-26 20:55:09

Allright. Adding the uucp group for that user worked past the first error. Now I'm running into a problem with pppd. I had to add a mknod /dev/ppp command to .xinitrc, but that only works as root. I tried /etc/rc.d/rc.local but that doesn't seem to be working. Where's the best place to put a command to run at boot as root?

Peanut · 2009-05-26 22:27:15

mabender wrote:

I tried /etc/rc.d/rc.local but that doesn't seem to be working.

The file is actually /etc/rc.local, try putting your command there.

tomk · 2009-05-26 23:04:40

Don't mknod it - just load the ppp-generic kernel module.

mabender · 2009-05-27 23:48:11

Neither rc.local or loading ppp-generic worked. I kept running into a pppd permissions error after wvdial initialized. Looks like I will just use a sudo script file, which is fine for now.

Peanut · 2009-05-28 15:32:12

I just found this on the wiki:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/All … ith_wvdial

Arch Linux

#1 2009-05-25 03:53:44

Program permissions for non root users

#2 2009-05-25 04:20:31

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#3 2009-05-25 04:25:15

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#4 2009-05-25 04:36:56

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#5 2009-05-25 04:42:49

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#6 2009-05-25 07:31:03

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#7 2009-05-25 08:58:34

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#8 2009-05-25 11:29:46

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#9 2009-05-25 15:51:54

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#10 2009-05-26 01:32:23

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#11 2009-05-26 01:48:31

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#12 2009-05-26 20:55:09

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#13 2009-05-26 22:27:15

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#14 2009-05-26 23:04:40

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#15 2009-05-27 23:48:11

Re: Program permissions for non root users

#16 2009-05-28 15:32:12

Re: Program permissions for non root users

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