Permissions?

[Tom H]

>>> 1) I found to edit a file in /var/www with jedit I must do gksudo jedit
>>> and supply my password.

>>> 2) The jedit session that opens does not have the same customizations
>>> (for example downloaded plugins) that would show up if I opened jedit
>>> from the Applications menu to work on a file in my Home folder.

>>> 1) Is there a way to open jedit from the applications menu and have it
>>> ask for my password so that I could edit any file?

>>> 2)  Do I need to have 2 sets of settings for jedit?

>>> If this is strictly a jedit issue, I apologize. I just don't know if
>>> this is the normal behavior for using a app to modify files outside of
>>> the home folder.

>> If I got you right, the "chown" command is the solution:

>> http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/en/man3/chown.3posix.html

> In general that is the wrong solution. Files very often have specific
> ownership and permissions in order to make the system work properly and
> be secure. So changing the ownership of arbitrary files is a Bad Idea.
> Don't do it unless you know exactly what the file is and why you're
> changing its ownership.

+1

The OP should move the files to a directory under ~/ to edit them as himself.


> I don't use jedit so I can't answer your questions, Jim. It would be
> technically possible for jedit to do what you want or for a plugin to
> implement it, but it's not a common feature of programs so it may well
> be that it doesn't work that way. If you don't get an answer here, you
> could ask on http://community.jedit.org/
> Having two sets of settings is definitely a solution to the problem.

To have the same extensions available when using gksudo, perhaps
creating a symbolic link between ~/.jedit and /root/.jedit.

Or perhaps changing the behavior of gksu to not to use the gksudo
backend and use gksu jedit, which would then use ~/.jedit rather than
/root/.jedit.