Desktop folders are read only now

[Steve]

On Tue, 2004-09-07 at 18:38, Scott Talbot wrote:
> On Tue, 2004-09-07 at 11:13 -0700, Steve wrote: 
> > On Tue, 2004-09-07 at 00:45, Scott Talbot wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2004-09-06 at 13:20 -0400, John & Christine wrote:
> > > > On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 02:13:06 -0700, Steve <steve.bolam at telus.net> wrote:
> > > > > Tonight I was installing some goodies with yum and operating as root at
> > > > > times.  Now when I log in as myself, the Computer, Trash and My Home
> > > > > folders have become read only. What have I done, and how do I fix it.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I've only had Linux installed for a week and I thought I was getting the
> > > > > hang of it. Guess this is another reality check.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Thanx in advance,
> > > > > 
> > > > > --
> > > > > fedora-list mailing list
> > > > > fedora-list at redhat.com
> > > > > To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Use Nautilus and look at the owner/permissions of one of the
> > > > now-read-only files/folders. (right click/properties/Permissions). If
> > > > it looks like the problem is permissions/ownership, open a terminal ,
> > > > su , nautilus again and fix the permissions.
> > > > John
> > > 
> > > 	A faster way of doing this is to open the terminal, su to root then
> > > enter at the # prompt: "chown -R --from=root:root mylogin:mylogin ~*"
> > > (without the quotation marks!).  This will find every file (-R) in your
> > > home directory that has permissions set to owner=root, group=root, and
> > > change them to your login name on both the owner and group.
> > > 
> > > For more info about chown use man chown at the terminal prompt.
> > > 
> > > HTH 
> > > 
> > > Scott
> > > -- 
> > > When in doubt -- Vote 'Em out!
> > 
> > > [root at d207-81-8-112 bigdaddy]# chown -R --from=root:root bigdaddy:bigdaddy ~*
> > chown: cannot access `~*': No such file or directory
> > This is the output I get.
> > 
> > When I  look at the properties for my home directory I see
> > 
> > Basic
> >  
> > Location: /home
> > Volume : Root Volume
> > 
> > Permissions 
> > 
> > File owner: bigdaddy - Steve
> > 
> > Owner Group and Others read write and execute boxes checked
> > 
> > Text view: drwxrwxrwx
> > Number view: 777
> > 
> > but at the bottom of the tab it says,
> > 
> > You are not the owner, so you cant change these permissions.
> 
> 
> Is "bigdaddy - steve" your login or root or what?  1st order of business
> is to make you the owner of your own home directory.
> 
> if you do a ls /home you should see a home directory for you and any
> other local users to that machine. yours should have your login name as
> the directory name.
> 
> Using the name you login with as the name "mylogin"
> 
> Make yourself root by executing the "su -" command on the terminal, and
> entering root's password when asked.
> 
> At the "$" command prompt enter "chown mylogin:mylogin /home/mylogin"
> 
> Now you should change the permissions to 700 using chmod
> 700 /home/mylogin.  This is necessary to keep anyone not you from your
> files!
> 
> Change directories to the /home/mylogin using the cd command (ie
> cd /home/mylogin)
> now use the command 
> chown -R --from=root:root mylogin:mylogin *
> 
> On second thought your files may be owned by bigdaddy - steve as your
> home directory was so maybe you should leave out the "--from=root:root"
> you could if you choose replace the from= bit with --reference=somefile
> using the name of some file whose ownership is incorrect, but it
> shouldn't really be necessary.
> 
> Lastly you'll want to check file permissions especially on the files
> that were not owned by you. set them to whatever you like, but don't
> make non-executables into executable and you really don't need to give
> "others" anything in permissions as they shouldn't be in your home
> directory anyway.
> 
> P.S.  If all this seems like a big pain - you can avoid it all by making
> another user account for yourself.  Later on you can move the files you
> want into your new "home". Up to you
> 
> Scott
> -- 
> When in doubt -- Vote 'Em out!
> Beat you to the punch and did exactly what your last suggestion says.
I guess I am finding out why you should be very sure of what you are
doing when logged in as root.