Why don't I have permission to write to system files?

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cetlasdfghjkl
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Joined: Thu 15 Nov 2012, 22:50

Why don't I have permission to write to system files?

#1 Post by cetlasdfghjkl »

I have a full hard drive installation of Lucid Puppy 5.25.

The following command generates a very unhelpful error:

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#mkdir /sys/hello
mkdir: cannot create directory '/sys/hello/': No such file or directory
Similar results occur when attempting to copy files to the /sys/ directory.

Aren't I root on Puppy by default? How then is modifying the /sys/ directory on Puppy forbidden?

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puppyluvr
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#2 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hello,
LOL..
/sys is a mount point..
Try /root or /usr or almost anything else. 8)
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8-bit
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#3 Post by 8-bit »

Also, properties for /sys show that it is writable.
But only if all directories are closed.
If you really want to put something in the /sys file for some reason, you could try the "editsfs" utility to open that SFS file for editing, add your file, and the SFS supposedly would be remade with your file present.
But humor us and tell us why on earth you would want to put anything into the /sys directory.
There is no advantage to doing that.

cetlasdfghjkl
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Joined: Thu 15 Nov 2012, 22:50

Why write to sys? Because no one knows how to.

#4 Post by cetlasdfghjkl »

The reason I want to write to /sys is because I don't know how to.

A secondary reason, is that no other linux users seem to know how to.

If these don't seem like excellent reasons to you, I guarantee you that you haven't fully considered the potential benefits of such knowledge. The mere fact that most linux users consider writing to this directory impossible, and only a select few actually know how to do it, has great potential application.

Reading a little, it seems as though /sys does not exist on the actual hard disk, but is actually just loaded in memory. My question is simply this: has anyone ever actually modified the contents of the /sys directory? If so, can you explain, step by step, how to accomplish such a feat?

cetlasdfghjkl
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#5 Post by cetlasdfghjkl »

bumpity bump

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8-bit
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#6 Post by 8-bit »

If you are still insistent on trying to put files in the /sys directory and want to see what happens, here is how you would do it.
You first need more than one frugal install of Puppy on your hard drive complete with pupsave files.
(1) Boot one version of Puppy.
(2) Mount the pupsave from the other version of Puppy by clicking on it.
(3) Click on the /mnt/puppy_version/pupsave/sys directory.
(4) Copy or place files in it.
(5) Unmount the pupsave file again by clicking on it.
(6) Boot that version of Puppy to see if the file you placed there still exists.

If the file you put in /sys exists you will have figured out to place files in /sys on a frugal install.

If it does not exist, you know that the /sys directory gets created and populated on every boot of Puppy.
Also, the contents will differ from PC to PC depending on the hardware.

And bumping your post gains you nothing but irritating people.
The instructions I gave you are actually just to give you something to do to satisfy your interest.
A better thing would be to research articles on the structure of linux and how each part of it is associated with other parts to gain a functioning OS.

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pemasu
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#7 Post by pemasu »

The mere fact that most linux users consider writing to this directory impossible, and only a select few actually know how to do it, has great potential application.
Could you elaborate these "great potentials".

I think /sys does it job just fine already. I cant imagine that stuffing stuff there which does not belong there would benefit much.

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