Root is not generally the way you want to run commands. It is
possible to remove the entire contents of your hd as root, and with no
prompting whatsoever. You really shouldn't do anything as root unless
it's absolutely necessary. Running the command rm -r * will remove
all files in the current folder, and also, every file under any
folders in that folder. If that command were run from the root of
your drive, and it was run as root, you'd have a clean hd in short
order, and your system wouldn't even tell you it happened. Of course,
the next ls command would alert you to the fact that something was
wrong, when you get a file or command not recognized error, but by
then, all your stuff is all gone, and can't be retrieved.
Use root for sysadmin tasks that cannot be performed by a standard
user, and leave everything else to standard users, the same rm -r *
command executed from root as a standard user would simply give a
series of permission deneyed errors instead of wiping out your entire
hd. Of course, all your user files would go bye-bye, but that's a far
cry from wiping your entire hd, so always be careful when you're
logged in as root.
On Sep 8, 2014, at 1:20 AM, Sarah k Alawami wrote:
To add to my thing onthe terminal. YOU cannot brake anything.I wasin
in a linode shell for 3 straight days as root and I did not brake a
thing.
Also the sudo command will let you be root for a short while for
example
sudo shutdown -s now
or
sudo shutdown -h +240
Hope that helps.
On Sep 7, 2014, at 23:22, Gordon Smith <gor...@mac-access.net> wrote:
Hi Esther
Excellently explained, as always. This is a cross-platform
application which I’m trying to install. I can’t share any
specifics at this point owing to an NDA. But the developers say
you need to be logged in as “Root” in order to install it.
Presumably, this relates to the permissions issue which you raise
in your post. Once the app is installed, you can do everything
from your own account so hopefully, it should only be necessary to
do this once.
This has actually cause me quite a lot of frustration all day
because I need to get this done, and my woeful lack of Terminal
experience is letting me down badly yet again. I learned a few
things when I installed and configured Snow Leopard Server. But
that was about fifty million years ago, and I’ve probably forgotten
most or all of it owing to the fact that I’ve allowed myself to
become very lazy in terms of installing software.
OK, so let’s go back to your post. I can play the app anywhere on
the system, so if I log in as root, it can probably sit in the root
directory of the hard disk if that makes things simpler?
I will go and re-read your post to see if I can get my head around
what I need to do. Once done, then it’s pretty much plain sailing
from there on in.
Many thanks, as always. Incidentally, Esther, I refrained from
contacting you regarding your Mac Access mail account because we
still have a record of your settings here. So if it’s alright with
you I’ll go ahead and create a new account using those settings?
If not, by all means get back to us off list if you’d like to
discuss this further.
Many thanks again.
Kindest regards
Gordon
On 7 Sep 2014, at 20:41, Esther <mori...@mac-access.net> wrote:
Hello Gordon,
Shell scripts don't execute when invoked unless you have changed
file permissions on your system to allow them to execute. This is
a security precaution, because you don't, in general, want
arbitrary scripts to run on your system without your express
permission, and by default the files you create or copy will not
have executable privilege.
If I want to run a shell script from the Terminal command line, I
first make it executable:
chmod +x scriptname
If you only want the script owner to be able to execute the script,
type:
chmod u+x scriptname
In this example, substitute the actual name of the script for
"scriptname".
Then, run the script with the command:
./scriptname
The "dot" "slash" typed before the name of the script (with no
spaces) refers to the current directory, which is not usually
included in your $PATH (which are the directories that are searched
by default for executable files).
Presumably the script takes care of the one-time installation, and
you won't use it again.
Those two commands typed from Terminal -- the "chmod +x" before the
scriptname to make sure the file is executable and the "./
scriptname" to run the shell script file named "scriptname" should
be all you need.
Technically, you also need to allow "read" permission to a shell
script file in order to run it, but you already have it in most
cases, including the case you describe. The alternative to running
the "chmod" command to change the permissions mode of a file, if
you have the file and directory on another attached disk, is to
copy the file with the "cp -p" option. The "-p" switch preserves
the permissions of the file you are copying, which includes
executable status for shell script files.
HTH Cheers,
Esther
On Sep 7, 2014, at 7:57 AM, Gordon Smith <gor...@mac-access.net>
wrote:
Hello everybody
I have a problem to which I’m hoping somebody can give me a
definitive response. I have an application which I need to
install on to a machine, but the application in question was
ported from LINUX and installs via a shell script. When I open
the script in the usual way, it is opening Xcode rather than
installing as I had expected. Is this normal behaviour and, if
so, is there a work-around?
Many thanks.
Gordon
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