/tmp/authority error
Forum: HD Install
Topic: /tmp/authority error
started by: mpie
Posted by mpie on July 15 2004,14:55
hi guys can i pick your brains dsl is fab and very accomodating in every way but with .7.2 have twice had too reinstall as programs stop working as user dsl only in root keep getting /tmp/ you do not have the authority to open that file, the first program todie from this was xmms now it wont open xpaint or gimp any idea's the only recent change i have done is the chmod +rx /dev/cdrom that john posted in audio , could this have done anything. i don't mind reinstalling just wondered if anyone was able to point out what is going wrong so i can try and fix it.........thanks 
Posted by cbagger01 on July 15 2004,16:46
Try this one:sudo chmod 777 /tmp
Hope this helps.
Posted by ke4nt1 on July 15 2004,16:56
Careful.....While xmms and xpaint are included within the DSL .iso,
the "gimp" , for example, and MANY other.dsl files are NOT,
and are not recommended to be used for HDInstalls,
since the .dsl file may overwrite perms/owners in several key base directories...
For a LiveCD or poorman's install, no big deal, simply reboot.
For a HDInstall, it will soon have the symptoms you are seeing.
I am working on this issue, and have rebuilt MANY, MANY .dsl's so far.
Best to check with a LiveCD first , and search for these issues.
To check if a dsl is doing odd things, use this method.
"tar -ztf whatever.dsl > whatever.txt"
Then open the file with your fav. editor
If you see THESE directories listed, I'd be VERY cautious.
/
etc/
usr/
usr/bin/
usr/lib/
lib/
tmp/
usr/share/
usr/games/
You should only see FILES in the .dsl's , and not any directories
that are ALREADY in the base DSL .iso
( a "usr/games/mygame/scores/ " directory would be fine, for ex: )
If the perms/owners are all damnsmall.staff or dsl.staff - this can also cause these symptoms with HDInstalls
( /usr /lib and /etc ARE NOT OWNED by damnsmall.staff)
Open the file in a temp or work directory, like "tar zxvf any.dsl"
then do a "ls-al" or "ls-alR" and see if key directories like
/etc /usr /usr/lib /lib are owned by root.root - which is good
...or damnsmall.staff ( dsl.staff ) - which is BAD...
Again.. HDInstall users take heed, as the contribs are coming in
faster
than we can thoroughly examine every instance in every type of install, in every .dsl file we receive..
Your input is a valuable resource to finding these issues quickly,
before even more folks start asking these kinds of questions.
73
ke4nt
Posted by mpie on July 15 2004,17:14
THANKS AGAIN CBAGGER ONCE AGAIN YOU HAD THE ANSWER!!!!! 
MAYBE THERE SHOULD BE A HELP FILE WRITTEN THAT PEOPLE COULD LOOK TO BEFORE THE FORUMS AS I REGULARLY SEE DUPLICATE ENTRIES AND THAT IS SINCE I FOUND DSL IN 06/04 SO PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF KE4NT ROBERTS AND JOHN MUST GET A BIT CHEESED WITH PEOPLE REPEATING THINGS........JUST A THOUGHT
Posted by mpie on July 15 2004,18:29
yeah xmms and xpaint first so maybe i gotta start again...... strange tho as first installed these apps days ago and all have previously been run so unsure what happened if i figure it out i shall happliy post it and all worked fine with 0.7.1 has the load mydsl gui changed the way things are loaded as the apps i wget are fine only ones that i used the gui for such as gimp where as my own ones eg gtkam that i wgot after installing 0.7.2 work fine as do the others only ones ive used the gui for gimp and xine are stuck the others work fine?
maybe I'll reinstall later and wget them all keep your eyes peeled!!! this may be an issue for hd installers
Posted by mpie on July 15 2004,22:45
yeah now fixed everything works now it's to do with using the gui
Posted by cbagger01 on July 16 2004,01:45
The problem that you experienced is due to one of your *.dsl extensions being built wrong (I don't know who the "bad apple" is).Basically, what happens is the bad *.dsl file changes the permissions of the /tmp folder and you are no longer allowed to write to it unless you are running as user 'root'.
A quick way to check for this problem is to type this:
tar -ztvf filename.dsl | more
Then look for the following entry in the list:
/tmp/
or
/var/tmp/
If you see this entry, then your dsl file may cause you some trouble.
Hope this helps.
Posted by mpie on July 16 2004,10:37
yeah thanks again, and now i know how to resolve it should this happen again. I greatly appreciate your help being a total linux newbie just 6 weeks or so but am trying to soak up what i can.The amount of stuff I have learned from this forum is remarkable KUDOS 