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From: larryc@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Larry Corsa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: Mediainit "not owner" error
Message-ID: <560006@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM>
Date: 16 Feb 91 20:08:45 GMT
References: <11950@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: HP Measurement Systems Op, Loveland CO
Lines: 36

>>  When I try to use mediainit(1) on a floppy disk, it says
>>  	mediainit: can't lock volume - Not owner
>>  unless I am root.
>>  I tried changing the ownership of the device file to be myself,
>>  and it still wouldn't work.
>>
>>  What's the problem?  Can I fix things so that unprivileged users
>>  can init a floppy?  Where in the manual is this discussed??

According to the documentation installed with my 7.05 release:

Mediainit Has Incorrect Mode
----------------------------
As of release 7.0, mediainit(1M) is no longer a setuid root command.  This
may pose some problems for generic users hoping to initialize floppy
disks.  The workaround for this problem is to execute the following
commands as root.

        chown root /usr/bin/mediainit
        chmod 4555 /usr/bin/mediainit

The mediainit(1M) command is designed to be a setuid root program.
Changing its mode in this way does not represent a security risk.

... from /etc/newconfig/ReleaseNotes


Regards,

Larry Corsa 

Technical Support Engineer     |  HPDesk address: HP0900/UX 
Measurement Systems Operation  |  HPUX address: larryc@hpisla.lvld.hp.com
815 14th Street SW             |  (303) or TELNET 679-2206 
Mail Stop CU312                |  FAX (303) or TELNET 679-5957
Loveland, CO 80537, USA        |