i see, so you don't have root access to the machine? do you have shell access?

Alright. I've got two machines. I have one (local) server that I have root access to. It's behind a router, so I can't directly transfer files to it from the Internet. I have two ways to get files into the machine: I can ftp files from another host, such as my Virtual Private Server which hosts my website, or I can transfer files into the server by way of Samba, on one of my windows machines, such as the one I am typing this on.

I ftp'ed into my remote webserver, gzipped the bin directory, then transferred it back to my computer, into /root. Now I am trying to: chmod gzip or mkdir, both of which I also downloaded seperately, so that they are executable, or find some way around having to use chmod.

transfer mkdir to root and try ./mkdir /bin

-Joey

mkdir isn't marked executable, so it says "Permission Denied"

If I could actually edit an inode directly, I might be able to mark the permission bit that way. I know which inode mkdir sits on.

well i did an experiment and if you ftp using your userid on the server it should give you read acces to /bin but i see your point about the chmd thingy....

I may just solve this using SLAX, as it might prove to be easier than jumping through hoops. however, this makes me recognize the inherent danger in running as root and also of putting all your command-line eggs in one basket.

well good luck, and i know what you mean, i made the mistake once of deleting everything in the /etc/rc.d directory, so i know your pain man...

isn't it the easiest to run knoppix or something similar, mount the harddisk and put the downloaded files in /bin?