Hullo All,
I am running K3b 1.0.4 on Fedora 8.
I find that if I use iK3b as a normal user I end up with some sort of error, either during writing or during verification, but if I log in as root and then try the same exercise it works perfectly.
K3b starts up OK, but gives these niggly problems when not using it as root.
An example...I wrote a CD-RW data disc and asked for verification. During writing none of the progress bars showed any progress (always reporting 0%), but the text window said the normal stuff. While still showing 0% done, it opened the drawer, then re-loaded the disc, presumably for verification (it didn't say), then reported an error, saying it didn't have permission.
I closed K3b and then tried reading the CD, which showed the files and dirs had been written, but a zip archive couldn't be opened by file-roller.
I erased that CD-RW disc and then did the same process as root, and all went perfectly.
While that is only one example, I have had similar things happen, although I must say that I haven't used this version of K3b much since installing F8, so it is possible that there is a bit of coincidence involved.
Is there an issue with who runs K3b?
I seem to remember always having to use it as root in FC6.
If there is a root user issue, what can be done to allow ordinary users to do use K3b without problems?

Cheers,

Could be related to SELinux. If so it's fixable but we need you to post verbose and exact errors.

[QUOTE][Could be related to SELinux. If so it's fixable but we need you to post verbose and exact errors./QUOTE]

OK, I understand that more info is usually needed, but I have almost given up on second guessing what info someone who knows will want, so have used the approach of asking the question, setting the scene and then when someone needs more info then I can get it for them. Sorry if this isn't how most like it to be done.
I have just run another test and this time I get a different answers!
I tried to burn a CD-RW on my DVD burner as normal user. The writing was successful, but an error found when verifying the data. I can open the CD and randomly selected files open OK.. I have the debug report from K3b, which I will attach below, but I don't think it helps.
I erased the CD-RW and then tried as root, and exactly the same problem occurred. Error reading the same sector.
I erased the CD-RW again and then tried writing as normal user in my CD-ROM burner. This time it verified without error.
So, whilst I didn't get the same error as originally reported, the error was still associated with verification, and I am beginning to wonder if it is related to hardware. I.E. burning CD-ROM in DVD doesn't verify but burning in CD-RW drive does verify.
When I get a bit more time I will test burning a DVD as norrmal user and root and see what happens.
Attached is the K3b debug report. If there are any clues there, please let me know.

System
-----------------------
K3b Version: 1.0.4

KDE Version: 3.5.8-19.fc8 Fedora
QT Version: 3.3.8
Kernel: 2.6.23.15-137.fc8
Devices
-----------------------
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109 1.58 (/dev/sr0, ) [CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-R DL, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL] [DVD-ROM, DVD-R Sequential, DVD-R Dual Layer Sequential, DVD-R Dual Layer Jump, DVD-RW Restricted Overwrite, DVD-RW Sequential, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD+R Dual Layer, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW] [SAO, TAO, RAW, SAO/R96P, SAO/R96R, RAW/R16, RAW/R96P, RAW/R96R, Restricted Overwrite, Layer Jump]

ATAPI CD-R/RW 10X8X32 8.HZ (/dev/sr1, ) [CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM] [Error] [SAO, TAO, RAW, RAW/R16, RAW/R96R]
K3bDataTrackReader
-----------------------
reading sectors 0 to 5582 with sector size 2048. Length: 5583 sectors, 11433984 bytes.
using buffer size of 62 blocks.
Problem while reading. Retrying from sector 0.
Problem while reading. Retrying from sector 62.
Read error in sector 77.
Read a total of 62 sectors (126976 bytes)

K3bIsoImager
-----------------------
mkisofs print size result: 5583 (11433984 bytes)
Pipe throughput: 11433984 bytes read, 11433984 bytes written.

Used versions
-----------------------
mkisofs: 1.1.6
cdrecord: 1.1.6

cdrecord
-----------------------
/usr/bin/wodim: Operation not permitted. Warning: Cannot raise RLIMIT_MEMLOCK limits.
scsidev: '/dev/sr0'
devname: '/dev/sr0'
scsibus: -2 target: -2 lun: -2
Linux sg driver version: 3.5.27
Wodim version: 1.1.6
SCSI buffer size: 64512
Beginning DMA speed test. Set CDR_NODMATEST environment variable if device
communication breaks or freezes immediately after that.
TOC Type: 3 = CD-ROM XA mode 2
Driveropts: 'burnfree'
Device type : Removable CD-ROM
Version : 5
Response Format: 2
Capabilities :
Vendor_info : 'PIONEER '
Identification : 'DVD-RW DVR-109 '
Revision : '1.58'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.
Current: 0x000A (CD-RW)
Profile: 0x002B (DVD+R/DL)
Profile: 0x001B (DVD+R)
Profile: 0x001A (DVD+RW)
Profile: 0x0016 (DVD-R/DL layer jump recording)
Profile: 0x0015 (DVD-R/DL sequential recording)
Profile: 0x0014 (DVD-RW sequential recording)
Profile: 0x0013 (DVD-RW restricted overwrite)
Profile: 0x0011 (DVD-R sequential recording)
Profile: 0x0010 (DVD-ROM)
Profile: 0x000A (CD-RW) (current)
Profile: 0x0009 (CD-R) (current)
Profile: 0x0008 (CD-ROM)
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R/CD-RW driver (mmc_cdr).
Driver flags : MMC-3 SWABAUDIO BURNFREE
Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R RAW/R16 RAW/R96P RAW/R96R
Drive buf size : 1267712 = 1238 KB
FIFO size : 4194304 = 4096 KB
Speed set to 705 KB/s
Track 01: data 10 MB
Total size: 12 MB (01:14.46) = 5585 sectors
Lout start: 12 MB (01:16/35) = 5585 sectors
Current Secsize: 2048
ATIP info from disk:
Indicated writing power: 6
Reference speed: 2
Is not unrestricted
Is erasable
ATIP start of lead in: -11078 (97:34/22)
ATIP start of lead out: 359849 (79:59/74)
1T speed low: 0 (reserved val 0) 1T speed high: 4
2T speed low: 0 (reserved val 5) 2T speed high: 0 (reserved val 12)
power mult factor: 3 5
recommended erase/write power: 3
A1 values: 02 3A B0
A2 values: 5C C6 26
Disk type: Phase change
Manuf. index: 11
Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Blocks total: 359849 Blocks current: 359849 Blocks remaining: 354264
Starting to write CD/DVD at speed 4.0 in real TAO mode for multi session.
Last chance to quit, starting real write in 2 seconds.
1 seconds.
0 seconds. Operation starts.
Waiting for reader process to fill input buffer ... input buffer ready.
Performing OPC...
Starting new track at sector: 0
Track 01: 0 of 10 MB written.
Track 01: 1 of 10 MB written (fifo 84%) [buf 100%] 108.2x.
Track 01: 2 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 99%] 2.9x.
Track 01: 3 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 97%] 4.1x.
Track 01: 4 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 97%] 4.1x.
Track 01: 5 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 98%] 4.3x.
Track 01: 6 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 98%] 4.1x.
Track 01: 7 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 99%] 4.3x.
Track 01: 8 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 98%] 4.1x.
Track 01: 9 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 100%] 4.3x.
Track 01: 10 of 10 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 97%] 4.0x.
Track 01: Total bytes read/written: 11433984/11433984 (5583 sectors).
Writing time: 33.575s
Average write speed 3.6x.
Min drive buffer fill was 97%
Fixating...
Fixating time: 77.209s
/usr/bin/wodim: fifo had 181 puts and 181 gets.
/usr/bin/wodim: fifo was 0 times empty and 100 times full, min fill was 81%.

cdrecord command:
-----------------------
/usr/bin/wodim -v gracetime=2 dev=/dev/sr0 speed=4 -tao driveropts=burnfree -eject -multi -xa -tsize=5583s -

mkisofs
-----------------------
5583
I: -input-charset not specified, using utf-8 (detected in locale settings)
8.96% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:52:59 2008
18.13% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:52:53 2008
27.01% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:52:51 2008
35.89% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:52:50 2008
44.78% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:53:23 2008
54.00% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:53:21 2008
62.69% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:53:19 2008
71.81% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:53:17 2008
80.69% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:53:16 2008
89.75% done, estimate finish Thu Feb 28 18:53:15 2008
Total translation table size: 0
Total rockridge attributes bytes: 3136
Total directory bytes: 6734
Path table size(bytes): 22
Max brk space used 0
5583 extents written (10 MB)

mkisofs calculate size command:
-----------------------
/usr/bin/genisoimage -gui -graft-points -print-size -quiet -volid TW -volset -appid K3B THE CD KREATOR (C) 1998-2006 SEBASTIAN TRUEG AND THE K3B TEAM -publisher -preparer -sysid LINUX -volset-size 1 -volset-seqno 1 -sort /tmp/kde-terry/k3bGOLMNb.tmp -rational-rock -hide-list /tmp/kde-terry/k3bhJA47a.tmp -joliet -joliet-long -hide-joliet-list /tmp/kde-terry/k3by1Zkwa.tmp -no-cache-inodes -full-iso9660-filenames -iso-level 2 -path-list /tmp/kde-terry/k3bXzGQBb.tmp

mkisofs command:
-----------------------
/usr/bin/genisoimage -gui -graft-points -volid TW -volset -appid K3B THE CD KREATOR (C) 1998-2006 SEBASTIAN TRUEG AND THE K3B TEAM -publisher -preparer -sysid LINUX -volset-size 1 -volset-seqno 1 -sort /tmp/kde-terry/k3bJOi8mc.tmp -rational-rock -hide-list /tmp/kde-terry/k3bp3jiIa.tmp -joliet -joliet-long -hide-joliet-list /tmp/kde-terry/k3bEHFYpb.tmp -no-cache-inodes -full-iso9660-filenames -iso-level 2 -path-list /tmp/kde-terry/k3bE2QyGa.tmp

SELinux logs to /var/log/audit/audit.log or as AVC messages in /var/log/messages. Shouldn't be hard to spot. Easiest would be to keep two terminal windows (or one with 'splitvt') open and tail both logs before starting K3b. Running K3b from a terminal window may yield messages as well. Use something like 'k3b 2>&1|tee /tmp/k3b.log' to catch those to a logfile.


I'm sure you can't do anything about that but it's hard trying to get a fix on one error meanwhile jumping to the next.


Could be. Log should show.


'wodim' appears to be a renamed 'cdrecord', spose that's got something to do with stubborn developers, licensing and distro maintainers. What does 'stat -c %a /usr/bin/wodim' return? If it's something like 0755, then if you have verified (procedure above) there are no logged messages from SELinux, try 'chmod +s /usr/bin/wodim'. This makes the binary setuid root which is a realistic security risk if the application wasn't build to handle setuid root and therefore in general is not advisable unless you're the only user of the machine and you unset the setuid bit after testing. If it did work you should report it to your distro's bug tracker. If it doesn't work let's see some log messages.

I might be misunderstanding you here, but what I meant by 'another test' was that in order to get some precise error messages that you had asked for, I ran the 'exact' same test. I.E. same CD-RW disc, same files to be written, expecting that it would produce the same error message. That in itself might tell something.

0755

I have looked at those logs and not spotted anything, but haven't yet done your suggested procedure while running K3b.
I really don't understand what the chmod business is all about, or what really means, so not keen to make changes just yet, that I don't know about or how to put back as they were.
I will find some time soon to run the same test again and this time capture log file differences.

Thanks for your help.

Back again.
I did some more snooping and found that K3b was set to write multi-session. That setting isn't immediately obvious. After setting no-multi-session, the discs written by the DVD drive verify OK.
This looks like quite a good step forward. I don't really have a need for multi-session at the moment, so will make no-multi-session my default.
At this stage it looks like the problem might be solved...let's hope so.

Thanks again for all your help.

Cheers,

Well yeah, if K3b sets it to multi-session by default then I agree that's not an obvious setting to check. In any case well done finding that out yourself.