root is denied the ability to change permissions?

[Samuel Flory]

Dennis Calhoun wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Dec 2003 23:19:03 +0100, you wrote:
> 
> 
>>Am Mi, den 24.12.2003 schrieb Dennis Calhoun um 23:09:
>>
>>>Yup, it seems very odd to me and I've found no way around it, but when
>>>I try to use *any* means of changing the permissions on certain
>>>things, root is denied the ability to do so. I want to make a slave
>>>drive, that I've properly mounted, open for writing to it under my
>>>regular username instead of having to log out completely and log back
>>>in as root. So far I cannot find a way for root to be able to change
>>>this.
>>>
>>>Any idea why this is and what I can do about it?
>>>If more info is needed, please be simple and clear about exactly what
>>>you want me to get from where and I will gladly supply it.
> 
> 
> 
>>I bet the drive/partition you are speaking about has a fat32/ntfs
>>filesystem on it. On such systems you can't chmod/chown.
> 
> 
> Hi Alexander
> 
> Yes, it is fat32 (or vfat as linux wants it called). Thing is, as the
> owner, root, I can read, write and execute... as any other user I
> cannot write to it.
> 
> It really stinks to have to completely log out and then log in as root
> to be able to write to that drive. The same situation exits on another
> windows partition too. Is there ANY way to enable my regular user to
> write to these?

   Use one of the fat mount options for mount.
man mount:
.....
Mount options for fat
        (Note:  fat  is  not  a  separate  filesystem, but a common part 
of the
        msdos, umsdos and vfat filesystems.)

        blocksize=512 / blocksize=1024 / blocksize=2048
               Set blocksize (default 512).

        uid=value and gid=value
               Set the owner and group of all files. (Default: the uid 
and  gid
               of the current process.)

        umask=value
               Set  the  umask  (the  bitmask  of  the permissions that 
are not
               present). The default is the umask of the current 
process.   The
               value is given in octal.

        dmask=value
               Set  the  umask applied to directories only.  The default 
is the
               umask of the current process.  The  value  is  given  in 
  octal.
               Present since 2.5.43.

        fmask=value
               Set the umask applied to regular files only.  The default 
is the
               umask of the current process.  The  value  is  given  in 
  octal.
               Present since 2.5.43.
...


-- 
There is no such thing as obsolete hardware.
Merely hardware that other people don't want.
(The Second Rule of Hardware Acquisition)
Sam Flory  <sflory at rackable.com>