mv error
 

I'm trying to move font files (.ttf and .otf) from the download folder to a folder Inkscape can find them in. I tried dragging and dropping them in Dolphin but I don't have permission! So tried in the terminal:

mv: cannot stat `/home/bryan/downloads/fonts/*.*tf': No such file or directory

As far as I can tell the directories exist. Any tips?

If you can't drop and drop with Dolphin, the mv shouldn't work either. Since you say you don't have permission, then try the mv with sudo. Try 'sudo mv ~/downloads...'.

I am still pretty new, but have gotten used to a few good tools.
What I would do in your case is to open mc (midnight commander)
as root, and let it move them. Obviously, root can do anything, right?

The question remains, why were you denied access? Were the files
built with the wrong owner? If you need to, mc can change owner and group.

Hmm.. maybe the access you were denied was to /usr/shar/fonts ?
(I could not tell from your post if the problem was source or target)
In that case mc as root will get the files where you want them.

Good luck!

Thanks for the super fast replies. It looks like I can't paste the files into the /usr/share/fonts directory.

Kubuntu doesn't let you log in as root and I only know how to switch in the console. Even when I do, it still gives me the same error.

~$ sudo mv ~/downloads/fonts/*.ttf /usr/share/fonts
[sudo] password for bryan:
mv: cannot stat `/home/bryan/downloads/fonts/*.ttf': No such file or directory

Starting to get frustrating - I'm working on something I need to get done tonight and off to the printers in the morning...

@Above.

The destination is not accessible as a normal user. And you can see that OP is trying to move as a normal user. Look at the prompt.

su - should make you root temporarily.
And as you are using Ubuntu, you can use sudo.

OP got here faster.
It seems the error is caused by the wild card interpretation. Can you try copying a single file at a time using sudo?

Can you post the output of:

and

I have simulated your problem on my Ubuntu Lucid VM and your command with sudo works perfectly:

@Chaitanya - think the OP's wild card will work - have tested it and it does seem to work. I suspect the source directory is incorrectly specified.

Hi

I managed to reproduce your error. It happens when you try to move the font files that have already been moved to /usr/share/fonts - hence the No such file or directory error

Try doing:

And verify whether the files are there or not.

I put your command into code tags so that we can see that there is a space between the source and target (good thing).

<<Sorry--this had an error>>

Now working as expected.

Thanks for going to all this effort to help. here's the result - works fine:

~$ ls /usr/share/fonts
truetype type1 X11

They are the folders I expected in there.

Here is the result:

my post above had a fatal error---I edited with another test.

Here's your problem right here. The first argument in your mv command is the source files/directories to move(in your case /home/bryan/downloads/fonts/*.*tf).

Now based on the above ls command - you see that your source directory/files don't exist.

Do you know where on the filesystem your font files are located?

I understand what you are saying but I don't understand why its says it doesn't exist:

And it just occurred to me - the command line is case sensitive...:o I wish I had realised that at midnight last night before I wasted everyone's time...:newbie:

As you rightly say; Linux is case sensitive. Remember its not just the terminal; in general; Linux is case sensitive.

Did altering the case of the Downloads do the trick? A convention I generally try to follow to prevent case issues; is to name directories in all lower case; unless there's a specific reason not to do so.

The 'Downloads' directory is named like that by Kubuntu. I notice a few directories are. I think I might have created the 'Fonts' directory and made it worse! Altering the case did fix it - I transferred the files and they seem to work. Although one had a .otf rather than .ttf extension which Inkscape doesn't seem to recognise.

Thanks for all your help.

This is just another example of where using a commander format, or a GUI tool,
makes things much easier. When you just click on a name, or drag to it, you can't spell it wrong, can you? ;-)
Glad to hear things worked out!

Absolutely - I'm glad another Linux has said this! Having to delve into the command line makes things much less enjoyable. Expecting noobs to learn it is unreasonable considering this machine is now my family machine. I don't have time to act as the system administrator.

On this particular problem, Dolphin just said that access was denied. I didn't know how to change permissions/user in Dolphin.

The Linux in general is just case sensitive. That is not too much to ask for. And if you really do not remember names always, you can always use the double tab and it will show you all the files and folders in that particular location.