[Mageia-discuss] Need help recovering execute permission on local files

[Doug Laidlaw]

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:33:46 +0100
Len Lawrence <tarazed25 at gmail.com> wrote:

> After a warm reboot this morning I found that I no longer had the
> ability to run my own commands even though the permissions are correct
> and ownership is lcl (uid=500).  User system commands are OK so
> running a script via ruby for instance works but trying to execute the
> script by itself fails even though it is fully executable.  This
> applies to all my local bin commands.  Command aliases however do work
> as long as they do not involve running any of my bin files.
> 
> Even root cannot execute these bin commands; same message "Permission 
> denied".
> 
> In addition the system has switched me to autologin.  Trying to run
> mcc I was told it cannot be run in console mode (??).  If I login as
> su mcc comes up in console mode, which I am not inclined to use.
> 
> The hostname on this machine is belexeuli; this does not appear in
> the command prompt: [lcl at localhost ~]$
> 
> After su: [root at belexeuli lcl]#
> 
> This may all have something to do with my adding groups and changing
> group ids yesterday in my attempts to implement a viable sudoers
> command.  It worked and I could log out and in again without any
> problems.  I even managed a reboot without trouble but today is
> another story.
> 
> I suspect that solving these multiple problems is beyond my technical
> skill even with help so a full reinstall is probably the best bet.
> However I will await any comments.
> 
> Len
> 
You say that the permissions are correct, but do they include execute
permissions?  The prompt difference may be simply that root's prompt is
no longer the same as a user's prompt.  It is set by a config file for
each user.  You can see the code for it by typing "echo $PS1" In my
case, that gives "[\u@\h \W]\$"  The \h puts in the hostname.  You can
change it for the current session by typing at the user prompt: 

    PS1="[\u@\h \W]\$"

You can make that permanent by putting it in your .bash_profile, where
it should override the other at your next login, but really, it is only
a workaround.

With so many issues, I would do a full reinstall, but more knowledgeable
people tell me it is the easy way out.

HTH,

Doug.