Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Davin Pearson]

This post is slightly off topic but I am stuck and I see no way around it.

I am trying to get write access to the Emacs file dir under the MS Windows operating system.

Here is the output of the chmod command:

c:\Program Files (x86)\emacs-24.5\share\info>chmod 666 dir
chmod: changing permissions of 'dir': Permission denied

What gives?  How do I go about getting write access to the file "dir"?

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2016 18:26:10 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Davin Pearson <davin.pearson@gmail.com>
> 
> I am trying to get write access to the Emacs file dir under the MS Windows operating system.
> 
> Here is the output of the chmod command:
> 
> c:\Program Files (x86)\emacs-24.5\share\info>chmod 666 dir
> chmod: changing permissions of 'dir': Permission denied
> 
> What gives?  How do I go about getting write access to the file "dir"?

Is that file really a read-only file?  Does its Properties tab in
Explorer show the Read-only attribute set?  If not, chmod won't help
you, and your problem is probably due to the fact that your user is
denied access to "Program Files" and everything under it.  In that
case, the solution is not to install Emacs under "C:\Program Files",
but elsewhere, preferably on disk D.

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Davin Pearson]

On Monday, June 13, 2016 at 3:48:29 PM UTC+12, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2016 18:26:10 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Davin Pearson <davin dot pearson at gmail dot com>
> > 
> > I am trying to get write access to the Emacs file dir under the MS Windows operating system.
> > 
> > Here is the output of the chmod command:
> > 
> > c:\Program Files (x86)\emacs-24.5\share\info>chmod 666 dir
> > chmod: changing permissions of 'dir': Permission denied
> > 
> > What gives?  How do I go about getting write access to the file "dir"?
> 
> Is that file really a read-only file?  Does its Properties tab in
> Explorer show the Read-only attribute set?  If not, chmod won't help
> you, and your problem is probably due to the fact that your user is
> denied access to "Program Files" and everything under it.  In that
> case, the solution is not to install Emacs under "C:\Program Files",
> but elsewhere, preferably on disk D.

I am trying to write an automated installer module that patches the dir
file to add an additional link to a file jtw-manual.info.  My installer module complains about not being able to save the file "dir".

If there is no way to change the file "dir" then my system will be less usable 
to users of GNU Emacs on Windows systems.   Everything works fine under Linux, although the user has to be in logged in as root to patch the "dir" file, among
other things.

I thought that there must be a way of writing to the "dir" file...

It is possible under GNU/Linux to change the "dir" file.  That may be some way forward here.  The user could boot into Linux and run the installer script which
enables them to access the C:/Program Files (x86)/ folder.

Do different flavours of GNU/Linux have the same format for accessing the C drive? On my system it is located at /media/www/C1TB where C1TB is the Windows name for my C drive.

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Yuri Khan]

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 1:39 PM, Davin Pearson <davin.pearson@gmail.com> wrote:

>> > I am trying to get write access to the Emacs file dir under the MS Windows operating system.

> If there is no way to change the file "dir" then my system will be less usable
> to users of GNU Emacs on Windows systems.   Everything works fine under Linux, although the user has to be in logged in as root to patch the "dir" file, among
> other things.

Windows has its analogs of root and sudo, too; they are called
Administrator and elevation, respectively. In order to modify files
installed on the system scope, as opposed to user’s home directory,
you have to be running with local administrator privileges.

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 00:39:18 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Davin Pearson <davin.pearson@gmail.com>
> 
> > > c:\Program Files (x86)\emacs-24.5\share\info>chmod 666 dir
> > > chmod: changing permissions of 'dir': Permission denied
> > > 
> > > What gives?  How do I go about getting write access to the file "dir"?
> > 
> > Is that file really a read-only file?  Does its Properties tab in
> > Explorer show the Read-only attribute set?  If not, chmod won't help
> > you, and your problem is probably due to the fact that your user is
> > denied access to "Program Files" and everything under it.  In that
> > case, the solution is not to install Emacs under "C:\Program Files",
> > but elsewhere, preferably on disk D.
> 
> I am trying to write an automated installer module that patches the dir
> file to add an additional link to a file jtw-manual.info.  My installer module complains about not being able to save the file "dir".
> 
> If there is no way to change the file "dir" then my system will be less usable 
> to users of GNU Emacs on Windows systems.   Everything works fine under Linux, although the user has to be in logged in as root to patch the "dir" file, among
> other things.
> 
> I thought that there must be a way of writing to the "dir" file...

You didn't reply to any of the questions I asked.  You also didn't
tell enough about your installer module.  So it's hard to help you
more.

One thing I can add to what I already said: the usual way of modifying
the 'dir' file is by running the 'install-info' utility.  Not sure if
doing so will solve your problem, but manually updating 'dir' is not a
good idea, either.

> It is possible under GNU/Linux to change the "dir" file.  That may be some way forward here.  The user could boot into Linux and run the installer script which
> enables them to access the C:/Program Files (x86)/ folder.

IME, installing data files under "C:\Program Files" is asking for
trouble.  IME, all those problems go away if you install on a
non-system drive.  But I already said that.

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Davin Pearson]

On Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at 1:57:03 AM UTC+12, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 00:39:18 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Davin Pearson <davin dot pearson at gmail dot com>
> > > Is that file really a read-only file?  Does its Properties tab in
> > > Explorer show the Read-only attribute set?  If not, chmod won't help
> > > you, and your problem is probably due to the fact that your user is
> > > denied access to "Program Files" and everything under it.  In that
> > > case, the solution is not to install Emacs under "C:\Program Files",
> > > but elsewhere, preferably on disk D.
> You didn't reply to any of the questions I asked.  You also didn't
> tell enough about your installer module.  So it's hard to help you
> more.

The read only check box is not marked so chmod won't help me here.  My installer module adds a line to the dir file pointing to a new folder created inside c:/Program Files (x86)/emacs-*.  I managed to manually change the read only status of the file "dir" by right clicking on "dir" and choosing "Properties", then clicking on "Security" and clicking on Users (DAVINPEARSON/Users) and clicking on the box: allow full control.
 
> One thing I can add to what I already said: the usual way of modifying
> the 'dir' file is by running the 'install-info' utility.  Not sure if
> doing so will solve your problem, but manually updating 'dir' is not a
> good idea, either.

What's wrong with programmatically changing the contents of the "dir" file?

Do you think that I should use the "install-info" utility to patch the "dir" file?

Do other flavours of GNU/Linux use the /media folder to access the windows hard drives of your computer?  Either way, the installer module could prompt the user for the location of the c:\ drive.

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Yuri Khan]

On Tue, Jun 14, 2016 at 6:14 AM, Davin Pearson <davin.pearson@gmail.com> wrote:

> The read only check box is not marked so chmod won't help me here.  My installer module adds a line to the dir file pointing to a new folder created inside c:/Program Files (x86)/emacs-*.  I managed to manually change the read only status of the file "dir" by right clicking on "dir" and choosing "Properties", then clicking on "Security" and clicking on Users (DAVINPEARSON/Users) and clicking on the box: allow full control.

You are trying to solve some user problem, and you think modifying a
system-wide file is part of the solution. So you are asking for ways
to modify the system-wide file while running under the user’s account.

The Program Files directory on Windows and the /usr directory on *nix
are protected from modification by users for a reason.

Please describe the wider problem in terms of the user and the user’s
actions and expectations, so that others could help you solve it.

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 17:14:09 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Davin Pearson <davin.pearson@gmail.com>
> 
> The read only check box is not marked so chmod won't help me here.  My installer module adds a line to the dir file pointing to a new folder created inside c:/Program Files (x86)/emacs-*.  I managed to manually change the read only status of the file "dir" by right clicking on "dir" and choosing "Properties", then clicking on "Security" and clicking on Users (DAVINPEARSON/Users) and clicking on the box: allow full control.

OK, so your problem is indeed with the NT security settings of
"Program Files".  I can only reiterate my suggestion not to install
programs there, if they need to write to their installation directory.

> > One thing I can add to what I already said: the usual way of modifying
> > the 'dir' file is by running the 'install-info' utility.  Not sure if
> > doing so will solve your problem, but manually updating 'dir' is not a
> > good idea, either.
> 
> What's wrong with programmatically changing the contents of the "dir" file?

Nothing, except that it's tricky, and install-info already does all
the tricks for you.

> Do you think that I should use the "install-info" utility to patch the "dir" file?

That's my recommendation, yes.

> Do other flavours of GNU/Linux use the /media folder to access the windows hard drives of your computer?

Sorry, I have no idea.

Re: Trouble saving to the emacs file dir under Windows

[Davin Pearson]

On Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 3:13:59 AM UTC+12, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Do other flavours of GNU/Linux use the /media folder to access the windows hard drives of your computer?
> 
> Sorry, I have no idea.

I meant to say do other flavours of GNU/Linux other than ubuntu and lubuntu
use the /media folder to access the hard drives of your computer?