GE problems

[Gene Heskett]

Greetings;

Ubuntu 10-04.4 LTS install on a phenom, using the neauvou driver on a 
fairly recent, maybe 3 yo nvidia card.

Google earth decided to quit running, so I ripped it completely out, then 
re-installed.

Anytime I do anything with synaptic, it ends fussing about libreoffice and 
the menu/icon updating process.

However, reinstalling GE didn't get me a workbench icon to launch it this 
time, so I hunted down the deb builder and tried to run it, both as me:

gene at coyote:/CoCo$ /usr/bin/make-googleearth-package
cat: /etc/mailname: No such file or directory
--2012-10-31 05:09:41--  
http://dl.google.com/earth/client/current/GoogleEarthLinux.bin
Resolving dl.google.com... 74.125.140.190, 74.125.140.91, 74.125.140.93, 
...
Connecting to dl.google.com|74.125.140.190|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 33688483 (32M) [application/octet-stream]
GoogleEarthLinux.bin: Permission denied

Cannot write to `GoogleEarthLinux.bin' (Permission denied).
Could not download Google Earth! (You may need to use --file)

I own everything in ~/gene, so perms should not be a problem.

And as root (sudo -i)

root at coyote:~# /usr/bin/make-googleearth-package
cat: /etc/mailname: No such file or directory
Refusing to run as root; use --force to override.

What the heck is /etc/mailname?  Never heard of nor seen it.

So what is the approved & recommended way to proceed?

Thanks
Cheers, Gene
-- 
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My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> is up!
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