[mythtv-users] Ubuntu Edgy - MythWeb

[Stroller]

On 7 Feb 2007, at 12:22, A JM wrote:
> ... in fairness Strollers point was valid...

Hi,

It seems that Mr Petersen missed the relevant parts of my reply, so  
maybe you did, too?

I do not post merely to say "get off my mailing list". I don't feel  
that would add anything to the conversation, or that chasing you off  
with a metaphorical agricultural implement would be effective in  
making you well-inclined towards my preferences.

You asked:

   Kubuntu is a bit lacking in an interface for changing root related
   items. Is there a way to login to a root account with access to a
   root "file manger", etc. without having to do everything via command
   line.

I don't think my answer was as clear as I would have liked, but I  
_did_ spent two paragraphs trying to answer this.

It should be _possible_ to log into a KDE session as root - I think  
this is an option to KDM, the logon window you probably see when  
Kbuntu boots up. KDM is the bit that shows an icon for AJM and an  
icon for Stroller and you click on one of those and enter your  
password & go to your desktop. Or it maybe just has empty "username"  
and "password" fields and "logon" & "reboot" buttons. I _think_ the  
option to show root / allow root logons is hidden away amongst all  
the other KDE settings in Kontrol Panel or whatever it's called.

But if you login to the GUI as root then you do everything as root,  
and it's kinda considered Bad Practice (tm) to do so. If you log on  
to KDE as root (not only do you create a bunch of preference files  
all over root's home directory but) any program you run also operates  
as root. One can well imagine waiting for a large video file to copy  
from one drive to the other or across the network and thinking "I'll  
just surf the web or chat on IRC whilst I wait 5 minutes for this";  
in that case a browser vulnerability or script executed against your  
IRC client will affect the whole system & allow your PC to get p0wned.

If you need just to drag & drop files as root then I believe you can  
simply run Konqueror (or whatever other file-manager you prefer) with  
root privileges. Open the Start > Run dialogue (or whatever the  
equivalent is. f4?) or a terminal window and type `sudo konqueror`.  
This should open a konqueror window and when you move or create files  
within that window you should have root privileges; all your other  
windows & programs will have only the privileges of your user. I  
think this is what you really want.

I have to admit that I'm very rusty at using Linux on the desktop, so  
I hope you will forgive me if my instructions are at fault &/or they  
don't do what you want. However I hope this explains better than my  
previous post & that you find them useful.

Asking about access to a GUI file-manger as root, however, is really  
OT for this list. However glad I am to help a new MythTV user with  
problems, I do feel this is worth pointing out. Posting a message  
here asking about this sort of thing will perhaps get you an answer  
in 15 to 30 minutes but this generates at least 2 additional  
messages, on an already high-traffic list, that aren't relevant to  
the vast majority of MythTV users. If you'd spent 15 to 30 minutes  
searching Google or the Ubuntu forums for "drag and drop as root" I'm  
pretty sure you would have found more comprehensive answers more  
quickly, and you would have saved someone typing an answer that could  
easily be found on the web.

Not aimed at you, but the number of questions posted here which show  
minimal preparation is staggering. If the best response someone can  
make to a question is "what are the permissions on this file?" or  
"can you explain which button you pressed and what happened next?"  
then the chances are that these points could have been addressed in  
the original question and that the original question could've been  
answered more quickly had they been included (at a cost of more  
effort to the questioner, of course, but also at a cost of less  
effort to the respondent who is helping out). Don't worry - I've been  
reading gripes like this for at least 5 years, so I don't really  
expect the internet to change just because of old gits like me.

Please scroll down further.


> Since the IP of the backend is 192.168.1.100 it appears that mythweb
> is having a problem with it as it will load on
> http://localhost/mythweb.
>
> ...
>
> mythtv at mythtv2:~$ sudo apache2ctl configtest
>
> Syntax error on line 126 of /etc/apache2/conf.d/mythweb.conf:
> Invalid command 'RewriteEngine', perhaps mis-spelled or defined by a
> module not included in the server configuration
>
> This is line 126:
>    # Turn on the rewrite engine
>        RewriteEngine  on

Ok, but as I understand it, you've solved the rewrite issue, because  
you're now able to connect from localhost. This tends to indicate  
that the webserver is working - it's just not allowing other machines  
to view its pages.

This _could_ be a problem with virtual hosts, but I doubt it on a  
default install.

You're better off looking through httpd.conf for "allow" and "deny"  
lines, and see if you can find any sections that are relevant to you.  
Is there an "allow from localhost, deny from all" section that might  
refer to your /var/www/mythweb (or /home/www/mythweb or whatever)  
directory?

Also note:
   # Listen localhost
is incorrect, if uncommented. It would allow only the localhost to  
connect to the server - other machines can't connect to the localhost  
interface (only their own localhost interfaces, if that makes sense)

   #Listen 12.34.56.78:80
is probably ok if uncommented & changed to the correct IP,

but
   Listen 80
is probably correct & best.

These are what my httpd.conf show & are probably right for you:
   #ServerName localhost
   UseCanonicalName Off

If uncommented "ServerName localhost" would again bind Apache only to  
the localhost interface.

Stroller.



PS: Sorry to labour the point, but <http://www.google.com/search? 
q=ubuntu+RewriteEngine> very quickly found me <http:// 
ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=7304>.