Moving files

madwac · 08-17-2007, 02:01 PM

I have the tarballs for the xboard 4.2.7 and Spike on my destop. How do I move these to the opt directory. The code below doesn't work. Is it because I need to use sudo or do I need to create a directory in opt first for all my chess stuff?

[joe@localhost Desktop]$ mv xboard-4.2.7.tar.gz /opt
mv: cannot create regular file `/opt/xboard-4.2.7.tar.gz': Permission denied

Nylex · 08-17-2007, 02:02 PM

You'll need to be root to move the file to /opt.

saikee · 08-17-2007, 05:26 PM

Try preceeding the command with

Code:

sudo su

to get the root privileges

Tinkster · 08-17-2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saikee

Try preceeding the command with

Code:

sudo su

to get the root privileges

How do you know that his distro (which he didn't mention)
uses that mechanism at all? ;} If he were using a stock
Slackware or RedHat install that command wouldn't do him
much good.

Cheers,
Tink

saikee · 08-17-2007, 06:34 PM

I was going to add

Code:

su

Between "su" and "sudo su" that should about to cover all distros I have come across.

madwac · 08-18-2007, 10:12 AM

Still doesn't work.

[joe@localhost ~]$ sudo mv xboard-4.2.7.tar.gz /opt
mv: cannot stat `xboard-4.2.7.tar.gz': No such file or directory
[joe@localhost ~]$
I think because its a tarball I need to treat it differently than a file but how? Either that or /opt needs to be in Path maybe? I'm stumped.

Nylex · 08-18-2007, 10:19 AM

A tarball is a file. The error message is telling you that there's no such file in the current directory. From your post above, it appears the file is stored in "Desktop" (most likely ~/Desktop), not your home directory (~). So, you can just cd to Desktop first and then move the file. Edit: and no, /opt doesn't need to be in PATH to move files there. PATH is a list of directories the shell searches when looking for executable files.

colucix · 08-18-2007, 10:22 AM

Since the OP reports a FC6 kernel, we assume he's running on Fedora 6, isn't he? So, madwac, first gather root privileges, since by default directory /opt belong to root, then move the file you want to and (optionally) change file's ownership to root itself. E.g.

Code:

su
<enter root password when prompted>
mv ~joe/Desktop/xboard-4.2.7.tar.gz /opt
chown root:root /opt/xboard-4.2.7.tar.gz
exit

See

Code:

man su
man chown

for details.

madwac · 08-18-2007, 10:54 AM

Duh? That did it. I just woke up and forgot to cd to Desktop. Thanks everyone. I'll most likely be back with tarball questions! The key thing I didn't know was opt belonged to root.

Nylex · 08-18-2007, 11:09 AM

If you want to see who owns files or directories, you use "ls -l". The third column tells you who the owner of the file is and the fourth tells you which group the file/directory belongs to.

madwac · 08-20-2007, 01:50 PM

I unpacked the xboard-4.2.7 in /opt but I can't configure it. Even as root in opt it says "no such....." When I tested it the user group was mann/mann. Now it says 541 541 . When I try to change ownership it says no such file or directory. Am I screwed because I didn't change ownership to root before I unpacked it? I'm confused because under file permissions it gives drwxrwxr-x 6 541 541 4096 Nov 28 2003 xboard-4.2.7
which I would think allows anyone read execute. Thanks
P.S. How would I change permissions for all the files and other directories in 'xboard -4.2.7' ??

TylerD75 · 08-20-2007, 02:47 PM

If I were you, I'd check out "man chown". This tells you all you need to know.
You could also consider "man ls"... For how to list files/directories in a folder...

But I'll also provide you with the info you need:
1. ~# cd /opt
2. ~# ls -lh
Command 2 will list all files in /opt, with permissions/owner/group. And displays them with "human-readables", which means size of file will be in kb/mb/gb instead of bytes.
Now that you have the list, let's change the owner to root (make sure you're logged on as root or use "su -" or just "su".
3. ~# chmod -R root:root xboard-4.2.7/
The above command will change the owner and group to root and root. (chmod <user>:<group>).
"-R" means the command will be recursive, so it will change owner/group on all files and subdirs in the "xboard-4.2.7" directory.

PS! Just to clarify: Root can change owner on all files (even if there's no existing owner like when you see the owner ID: 541, instead of the owner name), so NO you're not screwed.
Just make sure you change ownership to an existing user/group.
You should also make sure you are in the right directory before you try to configure: "cd /opt/xboard-4.2.7/".

Most linux distros I've encountered also has something called bash completion, so you can usually just type:
~# cd /opt/xbo<TAB>
Where "<TAB>" is the Tab/Tabulator key (2 times). The first time you hit tab (if there is only one file/directory that starts with "xbo") it will complete the typing for you.
The second time you hit tab, bash will list all files/folders that start with "xbo".

Hope this clears up a few things? If not? I need a translator

madwac · 08-20-2007, 08:44 PM

Thanks! your directions are exellent and confirm everthing I've read. However.....
The files are obviously there-is it because /opt isn't in the root login shell's PATH? I don't know????
-bash-3.1# cd /opt/xboard-4.2.7
-bash-3.1# chown -R root:root xboard-4.2.7/
chown: cannot access `xboard-4.2.7/': No such file or directory
-bash-3.1# chown -R root:root xboard-4.2.7
chown: cannot access `xboard-4.2.7': No such file or directory
-bash-3.1# ls -l
total 2488
-r--r--r-- 1 541 541 684 Feb 5 2001 acconfig.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 3051 Nov 1 2003 AUTHORS
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 263783 Nov 28 2003 backend.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 8932 Oct 27 2003 backend.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 3163 Oct 27 2003 backendz.h
drwxr-xr-x 3 541 541 4096 Nov 19 2003 bitmaps
-rwxr--r-- 1 541 541 142195 Nov 27 2003 ChangeLog
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 43449 Dec 16 2000 ChangeLog.2
-r--r--r-- 1 541 541 7503 Feb 5 2001 childio.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 2565 Oct 27 2003 childio.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 66523 Oct 27 2003 cmail.in
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 15185 Oct 27 2003 common.h
-r-xr-xr-x 1 541 541 39311 Apr 20 2002 config.guess
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 3003 Dec 16 2000 config.h.in
-r-xr-xr-x 1 541 541 27594 Apr 20 2002 config.sub
-rwxrwxr-x 1 541 541 225722 Nov 28 2003 configure
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 9462 Nov 27 2003 configure.in
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 18043 Dec 16 2000 COPYING
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 2509 Dec 16 2000 COPYRIGHT
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 2350 Nov 16 2003 copyright.texi
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 75431 Oct 27 2003 engine-intf.html
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 76173 Nov 28 2003 FAQ
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 73859 Nov 28 2003 FAQ.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 6723 Nov 5 2003 frontend.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 8305 Oct 27 2003 gamelist.c
-r--r--r-- 1 541 541 18445 Feb 5 2001 gpl.texinfo
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 5864 Nov 18 2003 ics-parsing.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 541 541 7832 Feb 5 2001 INSTALL
-r-xr-xr-x 1 541 541 5585 Feb 5 2001 install-sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 3090 Oct 27 2003 lists.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 2202 Oct 27 2003 lists.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 6834 Nov 28 2003 Makefile.in
-rwxr-xr-x 1 541 541 727 Oct 27 2003 mkinstalldirs
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 27562 Oct 27 2003 moves.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 6509 Oct 27 2003 moves.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 1987 Nov 28 2003 NEWS
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 138621 Nov 28 2003 parser.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 2911 Oct 27 2003 parser.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 23479 Oct 27 2003 parser.l
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 7332 Oct 27 2003 pgntags.c
drwxr-xr-x 3 541 541 12288 Oct 27 2003 pixmaps
-rwxr-xr-x 1 541 541 913 Oct 25 2003 pxboard
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 2365 Nov 28 2003 READ_ME
-rwxr-xr-x 1 541 541 835 Dec 15 2001 shiphtml
drwxr-xr-x 3 541 541 4096 Nov 18 2003 sounds
-rwxr-xr-x 1 541 541 5107 Nov 28 2003 texi2man
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 62896 Nov 27 2003 ToDo
drwxrwxr-x 4 541 30060 4096 Nov 28 2003 winboard
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 243086 Nov 19 2003 xboard.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 4972 Oct 27 2003 xboard.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 141958 Nov 28 2003 xboard.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 111389 Nov 28 2003 xboard.man
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 105232 Nov 19 2003 xboard.texi
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 180 Nov 16 2003 xboard.texinfo.in
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 146545 Nov 28 2003 xboard.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 12292 Oct 27 2003 xedittags.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 1304 Oct 27 2003 xedittags.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 13078 Oct 27 2003 xgamelist.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 1454 Oct 27 2003 xgamelist.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 13702 Oct 27 2003 xhistory.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 1454 Oct 27 2003 xhistory.h
-r--r--r-- 1 541 541 12867 Feb 5 2001 zic2xpm.c
-r--r--r-- 1 541 541 2602 Feb 5 2001 zic2xpm.man
-rw-rw-r-- 1 541 541 3128 Nov 28 2003 zic2xpm.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 34680 Nov 24 2003 zippy.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 2867 Oct 27 2003 zippy.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 1503 Dec 16 2000 zippy.lines
-rw-r--r-- 1 541 541 18512 Nov 16 2003 zippy.README
-bash-3.1#

Nylex · 08-21-2007, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madwac

Thanks! your directions are exellent and confirm everthing I've read. However.....
The files are obviously there-is it because /opt isn't in the root login shell's PATH? I don't know????

Read my post above about PATH.

Quote:

-bash-3.1# cd /opt/xboard-4.2.7
-bash-3.1# chown -R root:root xboard-4.2.7/

You've changed directory to /opt/xboard-4.2.7 (i.e. it's the current directory) and obviously the directory isn't inside itself! You want to cd to /opt and then do a chown. Edit: or obviously just do "chown -R root:root *" from /opt/xboard-4.2.7.

madwac · 08-22-2007, 09:26 AM

I cd'd to opt and typed 'sudo chown -R root:root *' and then when I typed ls-l- bingo! both the tar.gz and the directory /xboard-4.2.7 belong to root. Then I typed cd /opt/xboard-4.2.7 and then ls -l and all the files belong to root. Thanks for your excellent explanation!