One of the alternatives, and a simple one in a case like this, is to use sudo.
j
--- "David E. Fox" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I've just been trying to use KFloppy to format a floppy disk from
> > within the K Desktop Environment. As I was logged in as an
> > ordinary user (jmorley) and a member of an ordinary group (users)
>
> I might be viewed as a right-wing conservative, but I'm of the opinion
> that ordinary users should not be able to access raw devices, period. That's
> why the Unix permission scheme exists, among other things.
>
> Of course, it's a bit inconvenient to ask root to format the floppies for
> you, and in Linux's case, you happen to be root as well. That's one of
> the things that root is supposed to do, so switch hats and do the
> operation as root.
>
> Still, many suggest that even that is less convenient than just doing
> the thing as a user, so various means to "circumvent" these restrictions
> have arised. Personally speaking, I haven't really bothered with them - I
> still typically mount/unmount/format things as root.
>
> > my attempt to access the /dev/fd0h1440 device (owned by root.floppy,
> > permissions brw-rw----) failed.
>
> OK, if you are not a member of the floppy group, or have ownership of the
> device, you can't use it. Seems fine to me.
>
> >
> > added my ordinary username (jmorley) to the entry for floppy:
> >
> > floppy:x:19:jmorley
>
> Adding yourself to the floppy group is a workaround. I don't see why
> you can't access the device at that point. You shouldn't have to 'newgrp
> floppy' because 'floppy' already exists. You might have to relogin again.
>
>
> What happens with 'fdformat /dev/fd0' once you're a member of the floppy
> group? If you can do that it would prove you have (group) access to the
> floppy device and can format floppies. If you can do that and still can't
> use kfloppy it would be a problem with the latter.
>
>
> > The obvious solution would be to change the ownership of /dev/fd0*
> > to jmorley but I'm reluctant to do that until I've considered all
> > the ramifications.
>
> Don't. That circumvents the whole point of the permissions. Really, I'm
> kind of appalled at all this 'new-fangled' methodology to make Unix
> resemble DOS :).
>
> > John Morley ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> David E. Fox Thanks for letting me
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] change magnetic patterns
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] on your hard disk.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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