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> Hello,
> 
> I'm running Mandrake 7.1 (I know I know, long story..) and I'm having what 
> I think is a permissions problem.

What are the permissions on the /dev device entries (/dev/cdrom, etc)?
That's usually a clue - if they are set incorrectly, then you won't be
able to access them as a user.

/dev/cdrom should be permissions 440 (i.e., as root, do chmod 440 /dev/
cdrom) - because the owner should be able to access the cdrom as well as
the group (more on that later) but 'outsiders' i.e., the world, if you
have any remote users - shouldn't have access to the 'raw' device. Now
they *can* have access to the directory where the cdrom is mounted, and 
IIRC that doesn't necessarily mean they need read access to the device.

Lots of setups do things differently, and I may not be quoting the
"party line" here - but it's your system :). My rationale is based on
having users that can have access to the device (other than root) such
as a "disk" or "audio" group. That is why I set the group read
permissions on. If you yourself as a user are added to that group, then
you get to use the device.

What complicates matters is that (I think) somehow the permissions are
being reset - and further complications arise if you use "auto-mounting"
deamons and the like. Personally, I just like the idea of mounting a new
CD as root, and then letting the user use the mount point, rather than
having direct access to the device. 



> I need the floppy drive....(No network yet, coming soon)
> So smarty that I am I pull out the books. Yes books.
> Then I edit /etc/group and make my user part of all the groups that look 
> entertaining, disk,cdrom,floppy,users.

I think you're on the right track. 


root:x:0:root
bin:x:1:root,bin,daemon
daemon:x:2:root,bin,daemon,ldap

(snips) (here I only have one user, i.e., me, but this should be enough

cdrom:x:22:dfox
usb:x:43:dfox
cdwriter:x:80:dfox
audio:x:81:dfox
users:x:100:dfox

etc. 

> Doesn't help a bit. Finally in a fit of desparation I add myself to root. 
> Which also doesn't help a bit.

That doesn't really help - but other unices have a 'wheel' but Linux
doesn't really have it per se. It can no doubt be added, or even faked,
if need be.

> So I'm stumped, I can mount and unmount but not use... HELP!

OK - now what are the permissions on /mnt/cdrom? Remember it's not
simply the permissions on the device - a user needs to be able to
see the files, for instance in /mnt/cdrom. If that's not also accessible
by the user, it won't make a difference if he's in the cdrom or the 
floppy group.

> -Curt

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