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

[Len Lawrence]

On 11/06/12 12:28, Doug Laidlaw wrote:
> 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.
Yes, all the commands have execute permission.  I have been using my 
local bin directory for years and I have never had execute refused so 
this must reflect some deep system level screwup relating to lcl and 
maybe something in pam.d.  That is unknown country for me.
Until yesterday there was no lcl group, only user lcl.  The group for 
lcl was live, which I have
removed from my group list.  live was my primary group, now it is lcl 
which I added yesterday.  Ownership of my files is now lcl:lcl and in 
/home/lcl/bin the permissions are nearly all 755.
Note that I can chmod -x <file> and chmod +x <file> but that does not 
change anything.

I notice that home now contains a "live" directory: /home/live, 
ownership lcl:lcl, containing tmp and nothing else.  Now that is weird.

The difference in the root and user prompts is probably related to the 
fact that root cannot access the user's X display.  I have seen that 
sort of thing before when the two have been using different hostnames.  
I think that root is now looking at belexeuli:0 whereas the user has for 
some reason reverted to localhost:0.  Attempts at using the gui by root 
throw up protocol errors.

As you say, a reinstall looks like the best way out.  More knowledgeable 
people would probably know just where to look for the root of the 
problem(s) but even after 21 years experience of Unix and Linux I know 
next to nothing about access and security policies.

Cheers

Len