Xfce Thunar

Crippled · 11-03-2018, 11:33 AM

In Xfce 4.12.3 Thunar has an option under the edit menu of Ownership to root. What's the propose of this other than to brick a computer?

273 · 11-03-2018, 11:41 AM

Where are you seeing this? I don't see the option.

nikgnomic · 12-22-2018, 01:22 AM

Changing ownership of a file is a standard function available in Linux - chown command

If you do not know why you would need it, you probably don't need to use it

It is possible that improper use of this command can damage the OS and make it unbootable,
But changing file ownership isn't going to brick hardware

Linux freedom cannot prevent improper usage, that is a user responsibility

ehartman · 12-22-2018, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikgnomic

Changing ownership of a file is a standard function available in Linux - chown command

Yeah, but in Linux it is mostly not allowed to "give away" files, unless you got special privileges. From the man page of chown(2)

Code:

Only a privileged process (Linux: one with the CAP_CHOWN capability) may change the
owner of a file.  The owner of a file may change the group of the file to any group of
which that owner is a member.  A privileged process (Linux: with CAP_CHOWN) may change
the group arbitrarily.

This, of course, also applies to the chown(1) command. So a "normal" user (or program) cannot chown a file to root.

tux111 · 12-22-2018, 08:44 AM

must be a feature of mxlinux or an app you installed. it's not in xUbuntu 18.04.1 LTS

Crippled · 12-22-2018, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikgnomic

Changing ownership of a file is a standard function available in Linux - chown command

If you do not know why you would need it, you probably don't need to use it

It is possible that improper use of this command can damage the OS and make it unbootable,
But changing file ownership isn't going to brick hardware

Linux freedom cannot prevent improper usage, that is a user responsibility

Thank you for the explanation. I experienced it damaging the O.S. where it wouldn't boot because there is a cross connection in Thunar between "Open Thunar root here" and that destructive option in Thunar. I had to re-install MX-Linux to un-brick it. When selecting "Open Thunar root here" doesn't always Open Thunar root here. I removed that destructive feature.

Crippled · 12-22-2018, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tux111

must be a feature of mxlinux or an app you installed. it's not in xUbuntu 18.04.1 LTS

Thanks. It was on MX-17.1 Linux and previous versions but that destructive feature has been removed from MX-18 Linux that has come out recently.