[SOLVED] Can't write file despite proper permissions

wingman358 · 03-29-2010, 09:25 PM

Under debian i did this:

casey@t400:~/programs$ ls -l
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 2071 2010-03-28 05:15 urlgetter.cpp

Then

casey@t400:~/programs$ gedit urlgetter.cpp

and upon attempting to save the file, I get the error

"Could not save[...] You do not have the permissions necessary to save the file."

but I am a member of the group root:

casey@t400:~/programs$ cat /etc/group | grep root
root:x:0:casey

Any ideas?

evo2 · 03-29-2010, 10:29 PM

I'm wondering if gedit is trying to also write a backup file to that directory. Do have write permission to ~/programs/ ?

Another possibility is that you didn't logout/in after adding yourself to the root group.

Cheers,

Evo2.

wingman358 · 03-30-2010, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evo2

I'm wondering if gedit is trying to also write a backup file to that directory. Do have write permission to ~/programs/ ?

Another possibility is that you didn't logout/in after adding yourself to the root group.

Cheers,

Evo2.

D'oh! I never logged out/in. That must've been the trick because gedit saves now without throwing any errors.

More interestingly, however:

casey@t400:~/programs$ ls -l
-rwxr-xr-x 1 casey casey 13349 2010-03-28 05:03 urlgetter
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 2071 2010-03-30 23:30 urlgetter.cpp
-rw-r--r-- 1 casey casey 2072 2010-03-30 23:30 urlgetter.cpp~

How can urlgetter.cpp's owner be root and urlgetter.cpp~'s owner be casey? I was under the assumption that gedit saved .cpp~ at the same time as the .cpp (and therefore as the same user).

Thanks for your helpful insight