Permissions for ptys (xxdb, Emacs)(Internal)


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Support knowledgebase (ke_devpts-63)
Applies to

SuSE Linux: Version 6.3
This article refers to an older version of SuSE Linux. Therefore some of the informations given in this article may be outdated or the article may contain stale links.


SuSE-INTERN:

Symptom:

When using the xxgdb (Debugger) you receive the following error message:

xxgdb: all ptys in use
or you have problems receiving remote data (with ange-ftp).  This may affect other programs as well.

Cause:

Because of security reasons the permissions for the device "/dev/pty*" (Unix98 PTYs) have been restrictively set to "660".  This has an adverse affect on some programs.

Solution:

You shouldn't use this type of program on crtitcal server-systems (at least for now).

On workstations, with users you can trust, you can set the permissions less restrictively, for example:

chmod 666 /dev/pty*
Alternatively, it is possible to set a "sgid" for the group "tty"; however you'll need to repeat this step for every affected program:
chmod g+s $(which xxgdb)
chgrp tty $(which xxgdb)

Keywords:

Categories: Applications

SDB-ke_devpts-63, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany
Author: wimer@suse.de - Version: 30. Nov 1999
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 02. Apr 2002 by wimer (sdb_gen 1.40.0)