[Sussex] Extracting a .tgz file into usr/share

[Steve 'Dobbo' Dobson]

Fay / Andy

On Wed, Sep 26, 2007 at 07:54:41PM -0400, Fay Zee wrote:
> Hi all. I'm forwarding this question from new EGLUG member Andy, whom
> I'm bringing along this evening.
> 
> > I'm having a problem with Ubuntu, I think it's trivial but can't find
> > the way round it. If you've got the time... or I could mention it at the
> > next meeting.
> >
> > Basically I don't seem to have permissions for my own file system.

Yes you do.  You just don't have access to all the file system as a normal
user, and you shouldn't have.

> > Result being that I can't extract a .tgz file into usr/share which is
> > where I think it needs to live.


It is common with windows that user accounts (esp on home systems) are
granted Admin privileges and thus have full access to the file system.
This is not the case with Linux.  Security is don't properly so even if
a normal user account is cracked the cracker doesn't get full access to
the entire system.

With Ubuntu in order to run a command as "root" (the admin account) you
need to prefix the command with "sudo".  For example:

    $ cd /
    $ sudo tar xvfz /full/path/to/archive.tgz

If there is a Ubuntu system there tonight I'm sure we can demonstrate if
Andy brings the file on a USB stick.

>                                    Neither is it downloading directly into
> > there (I guess for the same reason) so I've had to put it on the desktop
> > and as I say the extract won't work. I've tried sudo chgrp
> > file_system /root (on the basis that when I look at the file system
> > properties root seems to own them)   but I suspect file_system is just
> > an example and I need something else there.

This isn't the way to do it.  You could do damage that way.

>                                                Basically I'd like to open
> > up the whole system so I can do anything without needing any
> > permissions?

I will not tell you how to do this just as I won't tell you how to bypass
the fuse in an electrical plug.  You could do serious damage to your own
and someone else's system and I do not want to be the one that turns Linux
into the same malware infested system that it is today.  As you are
coming along to night I'll be happy to explain how to do things properly.

Steve
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