How to edit a config file in FC4?

heffo_j · 12-10-2005, 12:08 AM

G'day all,

I am relatively new to Fedora. I am accustomed (from other distros) to being able to alter config files in a graphical mode using a text editor. The editor (depending on the distro) would have an su option. In FC4 I can't do it. What is the trick please? I want to edit the "updatedb.config" file.

Regards
John

salparadise · 12-10-2005, 12:48 AM

I don't quite understand what you mean "in FC4 I can't do this".
From a terminal as root you can type "gedit /path/to/name.of.conf" or
"vi /path/to/name.of.conf.file".

Or have I missed your point?

heffo_j · 12-10-2005, 02:34 PM

G'day brother,

My point was that with Gedit(and other text editors), I could not actually change a config file. Some other distros allow this with such a program. With Fedora it seems the only way to do it is through the terminal.

Thank you for your response.

Regards
John

salparadise · 12-11-2005, 01:20 AM

Uh?
Then it's because gedit is not installed or broken because (for example)
"gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf"
should work as expected as long as you are root.
When you try to do this from the command line what error messages do you get?

brianthegreat · 12-11-2005, 01:26 AM

If you like a GUI editor then install midnight commander

yum install mc

to lauch the program

its just mc

I like midnight command because it allows me to see the file system.

heffo_j · 12-11-2005, 03:59 AM

Yes Midnight Commander is great. It is similar to the good old Total Commander nee Windows Commander. Thanks for the link I'll load it up. I used this onw of the KDE distros.

Regards
John

kurtdriver · 12-12-2005, 06:20 PM

Are you running these text editors as root or trying to become root from within the program? If you open a terminal, and then become root, you should be able to launch your editor with root priveledges. My apologies if you have been doing it that way, you could also log on to a virtual console, become root, and then run an non-graphical editor. I am fond of jed, btw. Good Luck, Kurt

heffo_j · 12-12-2005, 09:20 PM

Thanks Kurt for your comment. Yes, I was trying to get into root from within the program; something other distros allow (e.g. Krusader). I hadn't worked out that I needed to go through the terminal window to boot these porgrams as root. I'm okay with it now; it just takes time to get used to the different ways of handling things between distros.

I don't know Jed but I'll give it a go.

Regards
John