permission on /dev/null

[TMDolphin]

Hi guys,
since some days i've problems with permissions on /dev/null. All users other than root don't have permission to write to /dev/null.
I tried fixing the problem, by recreating /dev/null, but logging in on the next day and the same error occured again an permissions are messed up again. Does someone have an idea?

greetz TMDolphin

[moredruid]

can you post the output of ls -l /dev/null ?

[TMDolphin]

Hey, thanks for your reply..
here is what it says..

Code: Select all

[root@Irene ~]# ls -l /dev/null -rw------- 1 root root 1222 7. Jan 07:26 /dev/null

[radioz]

That doesn't look right. Here is mine:

crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1, 3 Dec 4 13:52 /dev/null

I would delete the /dev/null you have and create a new one:

cd /dev
sudo rm null
sudo mknod -m 660 null c 1 3
sudo chmod 666 null

[TMDolphin]

i tried again, with the code you told me. it works until i reboot. after rebooting i have the same sh*** i posted already.
seems to be something in the startup procedure...
ideas what it could be?

[moredruid]

if there is a /var/log/boot.log, check that.

the problem is that changing permissions is usually not logged.

What you could do is change the syslog logging verbosity to "debug" but make sure you have enough space in /var/ and see if it is logged then.

you can add this to your /etc/syslog.conf:
*.debug /var/log/mylog

and reboot.

Since it pertains permissions: did you play around with SELinux settings?
The command "getenforce" should give you the SELinux status.
If it's enabled you can re-initialize SELinux by creating a file and rebooting:
touch /.autorelabel; reboot

You can do the latter part regardless of state (enabled/disabled), it should not break anything.

Good luck!

[TMDolphin]

Thank you very much for this detailed explanation. i will check it out and post my results.