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Editing root files (permissions)

P

pjrobertson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Files such as /etc/profile etc. are ones that I want to edit (where you have to be root to edit them)

I don't want to use vi or pico in terminal, because it doesn't look too user-friendly...


I know I can use the command to open up TextEdit with root privileges in terminal
Code: 
sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit <filename>
but when I addan alias to my bash file
Code: 
alias edit="sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit"

and run
# edit

it doesn't work (I get told I need permission to save the file after editing.)

Any ideas?

I've tried running
#sudo edit
but that doesn't work either. ( I get "sudo: edit: command not found")
 
I'm guessing the reason it doesn't work is because you can't make an alias that includes 'sudo' in it and you cant use the command

#sudo alias-name

are there any alternatives?
 
vi is very easy.

sudo to root.

vi /<path>/<filename>

hit i to go to edit mode.

make any edits you want.

hit esc to get out of edit mode.

type :wq to save and quit vi.

why are you doing this?
 
aaah now that makes vi sound a little easier 😛

I'd just prefer to use Textedit, things like copying / pasting are so much easier.

I'm just trying to make it easier to edit some system files (I know about screwing up OS X!).
 
Yes, but why are you editing system files? I know you want to, but I don't understand why you would need to.

You can also copy and paste in terminal by highlighting a word and right-click > copy or paste. The keyboard shortcuts work as well. This is the same as text edit.

Also, in vi, you before you enter edit mode (before you hit the i), yy will copy the line you are on and p will paste that line after the current line.

And I forgot to mention that if you change something in vi and want to quit without saving, you hit :q!

I know you said you know about screwing up OS X, but I think maybe you should become more familiar with terminal and/or vi before you go messing around. But that is just my two cents and I am in no way trying to judge. Good luck.
 
I'm pretty familiar with the terminal, and did read up on vi (but gave up!)

The main reason is that I was changing /etc/profile to include my custom aliases. I know I could have stored them in ~/.bashrc, but the command
#source .bashrc

had to be loaded in terminal every time.
 
pjrobertson said:
I'm pretty familiar with the terminal, and did read up on vi (but gave up!)

The main reason is that I was changing /etc/profile to include my custom aliases. I know I could have stored them in ~/.bashrc, but the command
#source .bashrc

had to be loaded in terminal every time.
Click to expand...

Create a .profile file in your home directory so changes only effect yourself and not other users. There should be no real reason to edit the global files.
 
slu said:
Yes, but why are you editing system files? I know you want to, but I don't understand why you would need to.

You can also copy and paste in terminal by highlighting a word and right-click > copy or paste. The keyboard shortcuts work as well. This is the same as text edit.

Also, in vi, you before you enter edit mode (before you hit the i), yy will copy the line you are on and p will paste that line after the current line.

And I forgot to mention that if you change something in vi and want to quit without saving, you hit :q!

I know you said you know about screwing up OS X, but I think maybe you should become more familiar with terminal and/or vi before you go messing around. But that is just my two cents and I am in no way trying to judge. Good luck.
Click to expand...


Agreed... and without being rude, if you aren't smart enough or don't care enough to learn vi to edit your system files, YOU DON'T KNOW ENOUGH TO BE EDITING YOUR SYSTEM FILES.

You NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER edit a system TEXT file with TextEdit or most other GUI text editors... anything from screwed up @ permission additions to invisible spaces can be inserted into the files rendering them, if not useless, with unexplained random results that you will NEVER in a MILLION years be able to track down.


Again, no offense. But don't muck around with the system internals unless you are ready to learn / know about the tools that were created to muck around with the system internals.

Case in point. You are ready to edit an inner-working system file, yet you don't have enough knowledge to even know why it won't let you edit it. If you go to terminal, and do a 'ls -l /etc/profile' you'll notice that the permissions are set to READ ONLY for that file, even as root.

WHICH MEANS that even if you are root user, without explicitly changing the permissions BEFORE you edit the file, you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE CHANGES TO THE FILE, EVEN LOGGED IN AS THE ROOT USER.

Again, I'm not slamming on you... just saying that... YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING BEFORE YOU START MUCKING WITH THE SYSTEM FILES.

Thats all! 🙂

Good Luck.

And learn vi.
 
GotPro said:
WHICH MEANS that even if you are root user, without explicitly changing the permissions BEFORE you edit the file, you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE CHANGES TO THE FILE, EVEN LOGGED IN AS THE ROOT USER.
Click to expand...

Not true. As root you can write it with ':w!'.
 
😀 no offence taken


Cromulent's solution looks like the simplest way to do what I want to do.

I guess I'm used to having to edit /etc/ files on linux (boot parameters etc.) but should stay away form it on OS X!


Thanks
 
Infrared said:
Not true. As root you can write it with ':w!'.
Click to expand...

Oh My God. That is sooo wrong. Even as root, you shouldn't be able to do that (although it will work, I just tested it) if the rwx permissions FOR root are set to -r- only.

Or maybe I'm just retarded? 🙂
 
GotPro said:
Oh My God. That is sooo wrong. Even as root, you shouldn't be able to do that (although it will work, I just tested it) if the rwx permissions FOR root are set to -r- only.
Click to expand...

Yep. It looks like the permission flags are just ignored as root. E.g.,

Code: 
sh-3.2# cd /tmp
sh-3.2# echo hello > abc
sh-3.2# cat abc
hello
sh-3.2# chmod 400 abc
sh-3.2# ls -l abc
-r--------  1 root  wheel  6 27 May 13:07 abc
sh-3.2# echo world >> abc
sh-3.2# cat abc
hello
world

GotPro said:
Or maybe I'm just retarded? 🙂
Click to expand...

I'm too retarded to answer that! 🙂
 
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