Can't write .profile from vi

Can't write .profile from vi

[luke.kendall]

My ~/.profile file is the only one I've found with this problem.
As far a I can see, I have write permission, I am me, but I'm not
allowed to write the file from vi!  I have to write it into another
file in my home directory and then cp that on top of .profile!

$ vi ~/.profile

-rwxr-xr-x    1 luke     Domain U     4327 Aug 30 10:40 /home/luke/.profile
Hit ENTER or type command to continue
uid=11021(luke) gid=10513(Domain Users) groups=10513(Domain Users)
"~/.profile"
"~/.profile" E212: Can't open file for writing
Hit ENTER or type command to continue

I'm using /usr/bin/vi from the Cygwin installation.

luke


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Re: Can't write .profile from vi

[Cyber.Zombie]

"cat /etc/passwd" and look at your numeric user and group ids.  Now do a 
"ls -aln .profile".  I'm betting (given you're on a domain) that the id 
is not gonna match up with what NT thinks it should be -- and you should 
do a "mkpasswd -d ..." rather than -l (same using mkgroup).

Either that or do a "w!" (or chmod 777) on .profile...

luke.kendall@cisra.canon.com.au wrote:

>My ~/.profile file is the only one I've found with this problem.
>As far a I can see, I have write permission, I am me, but I'm not
>allowed to write the file from vi!  I have to write it into another
>file in my home directory and then cp that on top of .profile!
>
>$ vi ~/.profile
>
>-rwxr-xr-x    1 luke     Domain U     4327 Aug 30 10:40 /home/luke/.profile
>Hit ENTER or type command to continue
>uid=11021(luke) gid=10513(Domain Users) groups=10513(Domain Users)
>"~/.profile"
>"~/.profile" E212: Can't open file for writing
>Hit ENTER or type command to continue
>
>I'm using /usr/bin/vi from the Cygwin installation.
>
>luke
>
>
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Re: Can't write .profile from vi

[luke.kendall]

On  2 Sep, Cyber.Zombie wrote:
>  "cat /etc/passwd" and look at your numeric user and group ids.  Now do a 
>  "ls -aln .profile".  I'm betting (given you're on a domain) that the id 
>  is not gonna match up with what NT thinks it should be -- and you should 
>  do a "mkpasswd -d ..." rather than -l (same using mkgroup).
>  
>  Either that or do a "w!" (or chmod 777) on .profile...

Thanks for the thought, but of course the :w! doesn't work (that was
the first thing I tried), and as I said, I can write other files in my
home directory (which is a local directory on the PC, not a network
share or anything, BTW).  I can also do this:

	:w xxx
	:q
	cp xxx .profile

I tried your other suggestion, too, and (not surprisingly, given the
above facts), that checked out okay too:

$ grep luke /etc/passwd
luke:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:11021:10513:Luke Kendall,U-CISRA\luke,S-1-5-21-5706737
-76180391-208020174-1021:/home/luke:/bin/bash
lukep:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:12898:10513:Luke Paton,U-CISRA\lukep,S-1-5-21-5706737
-76180391-208020174-2898:/home/lukep:/bin/bash
$ ls -aln ~/.profile
-rwxr-xr-x    1 11021    10513        4327 Aug 30 10:40 /home/luke/.profile


>  luke.kendall@cisra.canon.com.au wrote:
>  
>  >My ~/.profile file is the only one I've found with this problem.
>  >As far a I can see, I have write permission, I am me, but I'm not
>  >allowed to write the file from vi!  I have to write it into another
>  >file in my home directory and then cp that on top of .profile!
>  >
>  >$ vi ~/.profile
>  >
>  >-rwxr-xr-x    1 luke     Domain U     4327 Aug 30 10:40 /home/luke/.profile
>  >Hit ENTER or type command to continue
>  >uid=11021(luke) gid=10513(Domain Users) groups=10513(Domain Users)
>  >"~/.profile"
>  >"~/.profile" E212: Can't open file for writing
>  >Hit ENTER or type command to continue
>  >
>  >I'm using /usr/bin/vi from the Cygwin installation.
>  >
>  >luke
>  >
>  >
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>  >
> >  
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Can't write any dot files from vi

[luke.kendall]

 Subject: Re: Can't write .profile from vi
 
On  6 Sep, I wrote:
>  Thanks for the thought, but of course the :w! doesn't work (that was 
>  the first thing I tried), and as I said, I can write other files in my 
>  home directory (which is a local directory on the PC, not a network 
>  share or anything, BTW).  I can also do this: 
>   
>  	:w xxx 
>  	:q 
>  	cp xxx .profile 

Actually, vi won't let me write any existing file whose name starts with
a ".".  The error is always "E212: Can't open file for writing"

It only affects existing dot files.  And yes, I have write permission
for them all.  (I can edit them with vi by writing them to a file ~/xxx
and copying that over the top of the file.)

This is on WindowsXP on a FAT32 file system.

Even stranger, is the fact that I can create new dot files (e.g. .xxx),
and write them.  I can then copy an old dotfile over .xxx and write
.xxx; and copy .xxx over .xinitrc.  But I still can't write .xinitrc
from inside vi.

What *does* work is this:

	cp .xinitrc .xxx
	rm .xinitrc
	mv .xxx .xinitrc

*Then* I can edit .xinitrc and write it.

The "rm" seemed to have a slightly different noise to other rms; it
sounded like there was a little more disc access, and it took a
fraction of a second longer.

Anyway, I'll wait a couple of days in case anyone would like me to try
some diagnostics.  Failing that, I'll just write a script that applies
the above workaround and I'll be happy; though diagnosing the Cygwin
problem may then become impossible.

luke


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Re: Can't write any dot files from vi

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 10:19 PM 9/5/2002, luke.kendall@cisra.canon.com.au wrote:
>  Subject: Re: Can't write .profile from vi
>  
>On  6 Sep, I wrote:
> >  Thanks for the thought, but of course the :w! doesn't work (that was 
> >  the first thing I tried), and as I said, I can write other files in my 
> >  home directory (which is a local directory on the PC, not a network 
> >  share or anything, BTW).  I can also do this: 
> >   
> >       :w xxx 
> >       :q 
> >       cp xxx .profile 
>
>Actually, vi won't let me write any existing file whose name starts with
>a ".".  The error is always "E212: Can't open file for writing"
>
>It only affects existing dot files.  And yes, I have write permission
>for them all.  (I can edit them with vi by writing them to a file ~/xxx
>and copying that over the top of the file.)
>
>This is on WindowsXP on a FAT32 file system.
>
>Even stranger, is the fact that I can create new dot files (e.g. .xxx),
>and write them.  I can then copy an old dotfile over .xxx and write
>.xxx; and copy .xxx over .xinitrc.  But I still can't write .xinitrc
>from inside vi.
>
>What *does* work is this:
>
>         cp .xinitrc .xxx
>         rm .xinitrc
>         mv .xxx .xinitrc
>
>*Then* I can edit .xinitrc and write it.
>
>The "rm" seemed to have a slightly different noise to other rms; it
>sounded like there was a little more disc access, and it took a
>fraction of a second longer.
>
>Anyway, I'll wait a couple of days in case anyone would like me to try
>some diagnostics.  Failing that, I'll just write a script that applies
>the above workaround and I'll be happy; though diagnosing the Cygwin
>problem may then become impossible.


I pulled this from your previous email:

$ grep luke /etc/passwd
luke:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:11021:10513:Luke Kendall,U-CISRA\luke,S-1-5-21-5706737
-76180391-208020174-1021:/home/luke:/bin/bash
lukep:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:12898:10513:Luke Paton,U-CISRA\lukep,S-1-5-21-5706737
-76180391-208020174-2898:/home/lukep:/bin/bash
$ ls -aln ~/.profile
-rwxr-xr-x    1 11021    10513        4327 Aug 30 10:40 /home/luke/.profile


Your uid (11021) and SID (S-1-5-21--76180391-208020174-1021) don't match.
Are you sure this was generated by mkpasswd?  You'll want to double check
this and the difference in ownership and permissions between the files that
vi is working with and those (like .profile) that it's not.  I expect you'll
see a difference there.  It's worth keeping in mind as well that the user
your trying to be in this case is a domain user.  While this isn't a no-no, 
it does come with some extra potential "gotchas" which I alluded to above
and which are covered in the email archives.  But start with these checks
and make sure something here doesn't signal the problem.

Good luck,




Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
838 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX


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Re: Can't write any.files from vi

[Igor Pechtchanski]

On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) wrote:

> At 10:19 PM 9/5/2002, luke.kendall@cisra.canon.com.au wrote:
> >  Subject: Re: Can't write .profile from vi
> >
> >On  6 Sep, I wrote:
> > >  Thanks for the thought, but of course the :w! doesn't work (that was
> > >  the first thing I tried), and as I said, I can write other files in my
> > >  home directory (which is a local directory on the PC, not a network
> > >  share or anything, BTW).  I can also do this:
> > >
> > >       :w xxx
> > >       :q
> > >       cp xxx .profile
> >
> >Actually, vi won't let me write any existing file whose name starts with
> >a ".".  The error is always "E212: Can't open file for writing"
> >
> >It only affects existing dot files.  And yes, I have write permission
> >for them all.  (I can edit them with vi by writing them to a file ~/xxx
> >and copying that over the top of the file.)
> >
> >This is on WindowsXP on a FAT32 file system.
> >
> >Even stranger, is the fact that I can create new dot files (e.g. .xxx),
> >and write them.  I can then copy an old dotfile over .xxx and write
> >.xxx; and copy .xxx over .xinitrc.  But I still can't write .xinitrc
> >from inside vi.
> >
> >What *does* work is this:
> >
> >         cp .xinitrc .xxx
> >         rm .xinitrc
> >         mv .xxx .xinitrc
> >
> >*Then* I can edit .xinitrc and write it.
> >
> >The "rm" seemed to have a slightly different noise to other rms; it
> >sounded like there was a little more disc access, and it took a
> >fraction of a second longer.
> >
> >Anyway, I'll wait a couple of days in case anyone would like me to try
> >some diagnostics.  Failing that, I'll just write a script that applies
> >the above workaround and I'll be happy; though diagnosing the Cygwin
> >problem may then become impossible.
>
>
> I pulled this from your previous email:
>
> $ grep luke /etc/passwd
> luke:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:11021:10513:Luke Kendall,U-CISRA\luke,S-1-5-21-5706737
> -76180391-208020174-1021:/home/luke:/bin/bash
> lukep:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:12898:10513:Luke Paton,U-CISRA\lukep,S-1-5-21-5706737
> -76180391-208020174-2898:/home/lukep:/bin/bash
> $ ls -aln ~/.profile
> -rwxr-xr-x    1 11021    10513        4327 Aug 30 10:40 /home/luke/.profile
>
>
> Your uid (11021) and SID (S-1-5-21--76180391-208020174-1021) don't match.
> Are you sure this was generated by mkpasswd?  You'll want to double check
> this and the difference in ownership and permissions between the files that
> vi is working with and those (like .profile) that it's not.  I expect you'll
> see a difference there.  It's worth keeping in mind as well that the user
> your trying to be in this case is a domain user.  While this isn't a no-no,
> it does come with some extra potential "gotchas" which I alluded to above
> and which are covered in the email archives.  But start with these checks
> and make sure something here doesn't signal the problem.

Actually, the mismatching ids are fine - this is what mkpasswd generates
for domain users.  This might, however, be the reason why this is
failing...  Is your home directory on a network drive, by any chance?
I've had some permission troubles with samba drives and cygwin...
What's the output of 'id' for you, by the way?
	Igor
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Re: Can't write any.files from vi

[luke.kendall]

I've found what was causing it; might be a Cygwin error.

On  5 Sep, Igor Pechtchanski responded to Larry:

> > I pulled this from your previous email:
>  >
> > $ grep luke /etc/passwd
> > luke:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:11021:10513:Luke Kendall,U-CISRA\luke,S-1-5-21-5706737
> > -76180391-208020174-1021:/home/luke:/bin/bash
> > lukep:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:12898:10513:Luke Paton,U-CISRA\lukep,S-1-5-21-5706737
> > -76180391-208020174-2898:/home/lukep:/bin/bash
> > $ ls -aln ~/.profile
> > -rwxr-xr-x    1 11021    10513        4327 Aug 30 10:40 /home/luke/.profile
>  >
>  >
> > Your uid (11021) and SID (S-1-5-21--76180391-208020174-1021) don't match.
> > Are you sure this was generated by mkpasswd?

Absolutely.

> >  You'll want to double check
> > this and the difference in ownership and permissions between the files that
> > vi is working with and those (like .profile) that it's not.  I expect you'll
> > see a difference there.

There are no visible differences, except to vi.

> >  It's worth keeping in mind as well that the user
> > your trying to be in this case is a domain user.  While this isn't a no-no,
> > it does come with some extra potential "gotchas" which I alluded to above
> > and which are covered in the email archives.

I can search through the archive - any suggestion of topics I should
search by?  I don't suppose there's anything in the FAQ or User Guide
that I could read?

Not logging into the domain is not an option, since I would then be
unable to access anything on the network.  We'd have to drop Cygwin if
the resolution was to not login to the domain, I think. 

>  But start with these checks
> > and make sure something here doesn't signal the problem.
>  
>  Actually, the mismatching ids are fine - this is what mkpasswd generates
>  for domain users.  This might, however, be the reason why this is
>  failing...  Is your home directory on a network drive, by any chance?
>  I've had some permission troubles with samba drives and cygwin...

No, it's a local hard disc that's FAT32.

>  What's the output of 'id' for you, by the way?
>  	Igor

It looks fine to me:

$ vi .profile	# Check that I still can't write .profile from vi
$ ls -l .profile .xinitrc
-rwxr-xr-x    1 luke     Domain U     4327 Aug 30 10:40 .profile
-rwxr-xr-x    1 luke     Domain U     1618 Sep  6 12:13 .xinitrc
$ id
uid=11021(luke) gid=10513(Domain Users) groups=10513(Domain Users)
$ ls -anl .profile .xinitrc
-rwxr-xr-x    1 11021    10513        4327 Aug 30 10:40 .profile
-rwxr-xr-x    1 11021    10513        1618 Sep  6 12:13 .xinitrc
$ grep luke /etc/passwd
luke:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:11021:10513:Luke Kendall,U-CISRA\luke,S-1-5-21-5706737
-76180391-208020174-1021:/home/luke:/bin/bash

Ah, I've resolved it.  Behold:

$ ls -d .*
.              .bash_profile.old  .kshrc         .profile~    .viminfo  
..             .cvspass           .profile       .rhosts      .vtclrc  
.Xresources    .epa               .profile.bash  .sh_history  .xinitrc  
.bash_history  .exrc              .profile.mks   .ssh  
$ attrib | grep '\\\.'
    H      D:\home\luke\.bash_history  
    H      D:\home\luke\.bash_profile.old  
    H      D:\home\luke\.cvspass  
    H      D:\home\luke\.epa  
    H      D:\home\luke\.exrc  
    H      D:\home\luke\.kshrc  
A   H      D:\home\luke\.profile  
    H      D:\home\luke\.profile.bash  
    H      D:\home\luke\.profile.mks  
    H      D:\home\luke\.profile~  
    H      D:\home\luke\.rhosts  
    H      D:\home\luke\.sh_history  
    H      D:\home\luke\.viminfo  
    H      D:\home\luke\.vtclrc  
    H      D:\home\luke\.Xresources  
           D:\home\luke\.xinitrc

And in particular:

$ vi .Xresources        # Verify that I can't write it.
$ attrib .Xresources
    H      D:\home\luke\.Xresources  
$ attrib -h .Xresources
$ attrib .Xresources
           D:\home\luke\.Xresources    
$ vi .Xresources        # Check if I can now write it?  Yes!   

Hidden files are meant to have the same semantics as "." files in Unix,
I thought?  If so, then I think it's an error that vi is considering
them to be unwriteable.

The reason for marking such files as hidden is the same as in Unix - to
prevent accidental fiddling.

An interesting question is, why does it seem to be only vi (vim) that
exhibits this behaviour?  It's vim 6.1, BTW.

luke


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Re: Can't write any.files from vi

[Corinna Vinschen]

On Fri, Sep 06, 2002 at 04:45:14PM +1000, luke.kendall@cisra.canon.com.au wrote:
> And in particular:
> 
> $ vi .Xresources        # Verify that I can't write it.
> $ attrib .Xresources
>     H      D:\home\luke\.Xresources  
> $ attrib -h .Xresources
> $ attrib .Xresources
>            D:\home\luke\.Xresources    
> $ vi .Xresources        # Check if I can now write it?  Yes!   
> 
> Hidden files are meant to have the same semantics as "." files in Unix,
> I thought?  If so, then I think it's an error that vi is considering
> them to be unwriteable.
> 
> The reason for marking such files as hidden is the same as in Unix - to
> prevent accidental fiddling.
> 
> An interesting question is, why does it seem to be only vi (vim) that
> exhibits this behaviour?  It's vim 6.1, BTW.

I'm using vim 6.1 as well, obviously and changing the hidden attribute
doesn't change the behaviour of vim:

$ vi .cshrc        # change, save works
$ attrib +H .cshrc
$ vi .cshrc        # change, save works
$ attrib -H .cshrc
$ vi .cshrc        # change, save works

There's another permission problem somewhere.

Corinna

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