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Recover root/wheel password?

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  Recover root/wheel password? briang@panix.com (Brian Gordon) - 2019-01-07 16:51 -0500
    Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Baker <nunya@ness.biz> - 2019-01-07 13:58 -0800
    Re: Recover root/wheel password? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2019-01-07 23:09 +0000
    Re: Recover root/wheel password? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2019-01-08 01:45 +0000
      Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2019-01-08 08:27 -0500
        Re: Recover root/wheel password? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2019-01-08 14:06 +0000
          Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2019-01-08 20:07 -0500
            Re: Recover root/wheel password? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2019-01-09 20:30 +0000
              Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2019-01-09 19:43 -0500
                Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Baker <nunya@ness.biz> - 2019-01-09 16:55 -0800
                Re: Recover root/wheel password? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2019-01-10 02:13 +0000
                  Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2019-01-10 07:48 -0500
                    Re: Recover root/wheel password? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2019-01-10 17:34 +0000
        Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Baker <nunya@ness.biz> - 2019-01-08 11:34 -0800
        Re: Recover root/wheel password? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2019-01-08 22:12 +0000
          Re: Recover root/wheel password? Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2019-01-08 20:11 -0500
    Re: Recover root/wheel password? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2019-01-07 23:42 -0500
      Re: Recover root/wheel password? briang@panix.com (Brian Gordon) - 2019-01-08 05:01 +0000
        Re: Recover root/wheel password? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2019-01-08 00:43 -0500

#120269 — Recover root/wheel password?

My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
password?

-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
| Brian Gordon     -->briang@panix.com<--     brian dot gordon at cox dot net |
+ bgordon@aol.com                                      Bass: NSC Frank Thorne +
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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#120271

On 2019-01-07 1:51 p.m., Brian Gordon wrote:
> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
> password?
> 

If you have an administrator account (and you should have at least one), 
then you should be able to remove the file using the Terminal even if 
you can't delete in Finder... ...which I know you can do at least in 
High Sierra.

:-)

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#120280

In message <q10hl1$ief$1@panix3.panix.com> Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
> password?

What file are you trying to delete and what version of the OS are you
running?

-- 
#27794 <Vellius> ... I wonder if the really nerdy Klingons learn how to
speak English

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#120293

On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
> password?

Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#120300

On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>> password?
> 
> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).

I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day 
and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file 
(using Textwrangler or Textedit).

In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work 
well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...


-- 
"2/3 of Donald Trump's wives were immigrants.  Proof that we
  need immigrants to do jobs that most Americans wouldn't do."
                                           - unknown protester

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#120301

Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>>> password?
>> 
>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).
> 
> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day 
> and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file 
> (using Textwrangler or Textedit).
> 
> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work 
> well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...

You’re not making much sense...

I do stuff on the command line in Mojave all day every day. Everything
works just fine.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#120317

On 2019-01-08 09:06, Jolly Roger wrote:
> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>>>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>>>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>>>> password?
>>>
>>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).
>>
>> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day
>> and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file
>> (using Textwrangler or Textedit).
>>
>> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work
>> well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...
> 
> You’re not making much sense...
> 
> I do stuff on the command line in Mojave all day every day. Everything
> works just fine.

For compilers (or more specifically, linkers) to work, you generally 
need the Command Line Tools installed for the major version of MacOS. 
So when my fpc compiler went Tango Uniform after installing 10.14, I 
installed the CLT for 10.14.

Compiler still didn't work.

One poster on a Pascal site suggested adding a particular path to the 
fpc.cfg, but I couldn't get it to save.  (Now I realize I probably had 
to use vi, but not sure...).  I changed the permissions on the file, to 
no avail ... (changed 'em back too).

A little more Googling found that something doesn't align between the 
linker and 10.14 and CLT for 10.14, so (per a suggestion there) 
installed CLT for 10.13 and all is well.

(This also implies I was using CLT for 10.12 while under MacOS 10.13 but 
I didn't check ...).

-- 
"2/3 of Donald Trump's wives were immigrants.  Proof that we
  need immigrants to do jobs that most Americans wouldn't do."
                                           - unknown protester

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#120331

On 2019-01-09, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
> On 2019-01-08 09:06, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>>>>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>>>>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>>>>> password?
>>>>
>>>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).
>>>
>>> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day
>>> and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file
>>> (using Textwrangler or Textedit).
>>>
>>> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work
>>> well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...
>> 
>> You’re not making much sense...
>> 
>> I do stuff on the command line in Mojave all day every day. Everything
>> works just fine.
>
> For compilers (or more specifically, linkers) to work, you generally 
> need the Command Line Tools installed for the major version of MacOS. 
> So when my fpc compiler went Tango Uniform after installing 10.14, I 
> installed the CLT for 10.14.
>
> Compiler still didn't work.

"My Free Pascal install didn't work correctly after upgrading to macOS
10.14" 

...is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement:

"10.14" is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement that "Mojave
Command Line tools for 10.14 don't work well".

The command-line tools in macOS 10.14 work very well. What doesn't work
well is your Free Pascal setup.

> One poster on a Pascal site suggested adding a particular path to the 
> fpc.cfg, but I couldn't get it to save.  (Now I realize I probably had 
> to use vi, but not sure...).  I changed the permissions on the file, to 
> no avail ... (changed 'em back too).

Do you have a good understanding of how *nix permissions work? It sounds
like perhaps not. The editor you use isn't the issue; permissions are.
You could have used nano, emacs, vi, or any other, as long as you did it
with sudo or changed the permissions of the file you were editing to
allow you to write access to it.

> A little more Googling found that something doesn't align between the 
> linker and 10.14 and CLT for 10.14, so (per a suggestion there) 
> installed CLT for 10.13 and all is well.

I see that mentioned here:

<https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F%40luridarmawan%2Ftips-mengatasi-problem-lazarus-di-mojave-688d42a20820>

> (This also implies I was using CLT for 10.12 while under MacOS 10.13 but 
> I didn't check ...).

It looks like FPC 3.0.4a was released with compatibility changes for
macOS 10.14:

<https://forum.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?topic=42655.15>

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#120348

On 2019-01-09 15:30, Jolly Roger wrote:
> On 2019-01-09, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>> On 2019-01-08 09:06, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>>> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>>>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>>>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>>>>>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>>>>>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>>>>>> password?
>>>>>
>>>>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).
>>>>
>>>> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day
>>>> and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file
>>>> (using Textwrangler or Textedit).
>>>>
>>>> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work
>>>> well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...
>>>
>>> You’re not making much sense...
>>>
>>> I do stuff on the command line in Mojave all day every day. Everything
>>> works just fine.
>>
>> For compilers (or more specifically, linkers) to work, you generally
>> need the Command Line Tools installed for the major version of MacOS.
>> So when my fpc compiler went Tango Uniform after installing 10.14, I
>> installed the CLT for 10.14.
>>
>> Compiler still didn't work. [1] <=--------------------------[1]
> 
> "My Free Pascal install didn't work correctly after upgrading to macOS
> 10.14"
> 
> ...is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement:
> 
> "10.14" is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement that "Mojave
> Command Line tools for 10.14 don't work well".
> 

 From my seat and use case that's the way it was...

> The command-line tools in macOS 10.14 work very well. What doesn't work
> well is your Free Pascal setup.
> 
>> One poster on a Pascal site suggested adding a particular path to the
>> fpc.cfg, but I couldn't get it to save.  (Now I realize I probably had
>> to use vi, but not sure...).  I changed the permissions on the file, to
>> no avail ... (changed 'em back too).
> 
> Do you have a good understanding of how *nix permissions work? It sounds
> like perhaps not. The editor you use isn't the issue; permissions are.
> You could have used nano, emacs, vi, or any other, as long as you did it
> with sudo or changed the permissions of the file you were editing to
> allow you to write access to it.

1.  Used sudo.  TextWrangler or Textedit would not save the modified file.

2. Change the permissions of the file and verified the change.  Same result.


I gave up on that and searched for more and found the 'revert to 10.13 
CLT suggestion.  Worked immediately.

>> A little more Googling found that something doesn't align between the
>> linker and 10.14 and CLT for 10.14, so (per a suggestion there)
>> installed CLT for 10.13 and all is well.
> 
> I see that mentioned here:
> 
> <https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F%40luridarmawan%2Ftips-mengatasi-problem-lazarus-di-mojave-688d42a20820>
> 
>> (This also implies I was using CLT for 10.12 while under MacOS 10.13 but
>> I didn't check ...).
> 
> It looks like FPC 3.0.4a was released with compatibility changes for
> macOS 10.14:
> 
> <https://forum.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?topic=42655.15>


https://www.freepascal.org/download.var
Shows 3.0.4 (no 'a').

But, now that I drill down via that page, the version on SourceForge is 
3.0.4a... never occurred to me to look with the 3.0.4 on the announce 
page...

So, this weekend I'll get to that... thanks for the tip...

-- 
"2/3 of Donald Trump's wives were immigrants.  Proof that we
  need immigrants to do jobs that most Americans wouldn't do."
                                           - unknown protester

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#120349

On 2019-01-09 4:43 p.m., Alan Browne wrote:
> On 2019-01-09 15:30, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> On 2019-01-09, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>> On 2019-01-08 09:06, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>>> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>>>> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>>>>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my
>>>>>>> personal login has most superpowers.  I need to delete a
>>>>>>> file owned by root/wheel and I am not being allowed to do
>>>>>>> it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the
>>>>>>> needed password?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).
>>>>> 
>>>>> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the
>>>>> other day and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save
>>>>> changes to the file (using Textwrangler or Textedit).
>>>>> 
>>>>> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14
>>>>> don't work well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my
>>>>> compiler works fine now...
>>>> 
>>>> You’re not making much sense...
>>>> 
>>>> I do stuff on the command line in Mojave all day every day.
>>>> Everything works just fine.
>>> 
>>> For compilers (or more specifically, linkers) to work, you
>>> generally need the Command Line Tools installed for the major
>>> version of MacOS. So when my fpc compiler went Tango Uniform
>>> after installing 10.14, I installed the CLT for 10.14.
>>> 
>>> Compiler still didn't work. [1] <=--------------------------[1]
>> 
>> "My Free Pascal install didn't work correctly after upgrading to
>> macOS 10.14"
>> 
>> ...is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement:
>> 
>> "10.14" is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement that
>> "Mojave Command Line tools for 10.14 don't work well".
>> 
> 
> From my seat and use case that's the way it was...
> 
>> The command-line tools in macOS 10.14 work very well. What doesn't
>> work well is your Free Pascal setup.
>> 
>>> One poster on a Pascal site suggested adding a particular path to
>>> the fpc.cfg, but I couldn't get it to save.  (Now I realize I
>>> probably had to use vi, but not sure...).  I changed the
>>> permissions on the file, to no avail ... (changed 'em back too).
>> 
>> Do you have a good understanding of how *nix permissions work? It
>> sounds like perhaps not. The editor you use isn't the issue;
>> permissions are. You could have used nano, emacs, vi, or any other,
>> as long as you did it with sudo or changed the permissions of the
>> file you were editing to allow you to write access to it.
> 
> 1.  Used sudo.  TextWrangler or Textedit would not save the modified
> file.
> 
> 2. Change the permissions of the file and verified the change.  Same
>  result.
> 
> 
> I gave up on that and searched for more and found the 'revert to
> 10.13 CLT suggestion.  Worked immediately.

Hmmm... ...did you consider maybe...

...creating the file as you needed it, and then changing its permissions?

> 
>>> A little more Googling found that something doesn't align between
>>> the linker and 10.14 and CLT for 10.14, so (per a suggestion
>>> there) installed CLT for 10.13 and all is well.
>> 
>> I see that mentioned here:
>> 
>> <https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F%40luridarmawan%2Ftips-mengatasi-problem-lazarus-di-mojave-688d42a20820>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> (This also implies I was using CLT for 10.12 while under MacOS
>>> 10.13 but I didn't check ...).
>> 
>> It looks like FPC 3.0.4a was released with compatibility changes
>> for macOS 10.14:
>> 
>> <https://forum.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?topic=42655.15>
> 
> 
> https://www.freepascal.org/download.var Shows 3.0.4 (no 'a').
> 
> But, now that I drill down via that page, the version on SourceForge
> is 3.0.4a... never occurred to me to look with the 3.0.4 on the
> announce page...
> 
> So, this weekend I'll get to that... thanks for the tip...
> 

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#120350

On 2019-01-10, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
> On 2019-01-09 15:30, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> 
>> "My Free Pascal install didn't work correctly after upgrading to
>> macOS 10.14"
>> 
>> ...is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement:
>> 
>> "10.14" is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement that
>> "Mojave Command Line tools for 10.14 don't work well".
>> 
>
>  From my seat and use case that's the way it was...

Nope.

>> The command-line tools in macOS 10.14 work very well. What doesn't
>> work well is your Free Pascal setup.
>> 
>>> One poster on a Pascal site suggested adding a particular path to
>>> the fpc.cfg, but I couldn't get it to save.  (Now I realize I
>>> probably had to use vi, but not sure...).  I changed the permissions
>>> on the file, to no avail ... (changed 'em back too).
>> 
>> Do you have a good understanding of how *nix permissions work? It
>> sounds like perhaps not. The editor you use isn't the issue;
>> permissions are.  You could have used nano, emacs, vi, or any other,
>> as long as you did it with sudo or changed the permissions of the
>> file you were editing to allow you to write access to it.
>
> 1.  Used sudo.

Not correctly, you didn't.

> TextWrangler or Textedit would not save the modified file.

Due to the configured permissions.

> 2. Change the permissions of the file and verified the change.  Same
> result.

Not correctly, you didn't.

> I gave up on that and searched for more and found the 'revert to 10.13
> CLT suggestion.  Worked immediately.

Due to incompatibility in the version of Free Pascal you are using.

Again, none of this has anything to do with the quality of the macOS
command line environment.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#120381

On 2019-01-09 21:13, Jolly Roger wrote:
> On 2019-01-10, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>> On 2019-01-09 15:30, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>>
>>> "My Free Pascal install didn't work correctly after upgrading to
>>> macOS 10.14"
>>>
>>> ...is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement:
>>>
>>> "10.14" is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement that
>>> "Mojave Command Line tools for 10.14 don't work well".
>>>
>>
>>   From my seat and use case that's the way it was...
> 
> Nope.
> 
>>> The command-line tools in macOS 10.14 work very well. What doesn't
>>> work well is your Free Pascal setup.
>>>
>>>> One poster on a Pascal site suggested adding a particular path to
>>>> the fpc.cfg, but I couldn't get it to save.  (Now I realize I
>>>> probably had to use vi, but not sure...).  I changed the permissions
>>>> on the file, to no avail ... (changed 'em back too).
>>>
>>> Do you have a good understanding of how *nix permissions work? It
>>> sounds like perhaps not. The editor you use isn't the issue;
>>> permissions are.  You could have used nano, emacs, vi, or any other,
>>> as long as you did it with sudo or changed the permissions of the
>>> file you were editing to allow you to write access to it.
>>
>> 1.  Used sudo.
> 
> Not correctly, you didn't.
> 
>> TextWrangler or Textedit would not save the modified file.
> 
> Due to the configured permissions.
> 
>> 2. Change the permissions of the file and verified the change.  Same
>> result.
> 
> Not correctly, you didn't.

Not something one can mess up very hard, is it?

> 
>> I gave up on that and searched for more and found the 'revert to 10.13
>> CLT suggestion.  Worked immediately.
> 
> Due to incompatibility in the version of Free Pascal you are using.
> 
> Again, none of this has anything to do with the quality of the macOS
> command line environment.

Panty untwisting is open in aisle 4.  No waiting.


-- 
"2/3 of Donald Trump's wives were immigrants.  Proof that we
  need immigrants to do jobs that most Americans wouldn't do."
                                           - unknown protester

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#120386

On 2019-01-10, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
> On 2019-01-09 21:13, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> On 2019-01-10, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>> On 2019-01-09 15:30, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "My Free Pascal install didn't work correctly after upgrading to
>>>> macOS 10.14"
>>>>
>>>> ...is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement:
>>>>
>>>> "10.14" is nowhere *near* the same thing as your statement that
>>>> "Mojave Command Line tools for 10.14 don't work well".
>>>>
>>>
>>>   From my seat and use case that's the way it was...
>> 
>> Nope.
>> 
>>>> The command-line tools in macOS 10.14 work very well. What doesn't
>>>> work well is your Free Pascal setup.
>>>>
>>>>> One poster on a Pascal site suggested adding a particular path to
>>>>> the fpc.cfg, but I couldn't get it to save.  (Now I realize I
>>>>> probably had to use vi, but not sure...).  I changed the permissions
>>>>> on the file, to no avail ... (changed 'em back too).
>>>>
>>>> Do you have a good understanding of how *nix permissions work? It
>>>> sounds like perhaps not. The editor you use isn't the issue;
>>>> permissions are.  You could have used nano, emacs, vi, or any other,
>>>> as long as you did it with sudo or changed the permissions of the
>>>> file you were editing to allow you to write access to it.
>>>
>>> 1.  Used sudo.
>> 
>> Not correctly, you didn't.
>> 
>>> TextWrangler or Textedit would not save the modified file.
>> 
>> Due to the configured permissions.
>> 
>>> 2. Change the permissions of the file and verified the change.  Same
>>> result.
>> 
>> Not correctly, you didn't.
>
> Not something one can mess up very hard, is it?

Not if they know what they are doing...

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#120308

On 2019-01-08 5:27 a.m., Alan Browne wrote:
> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has 
>>> most
>>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am 
>>> not being
>>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the 
>>> needed
>>> password?
>>
>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).
> 
> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day 
> and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file 
> (using Textwrangler or Textedit).

"sudo open -a TextEdit".

> 
> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work 
> well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...

It seems you just don't understand how to use them. :-)

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#120315

In message <pcydnf-nHfzcOKnBnZ2dnUU7-LudnZ2d@giganews.com> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>>> password?
>> 
>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).

> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day 
> and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file 
> (using Textwrangler or Textedit).

> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work 

They do.

> well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...

I have no idea what you think you did, but I fear for your system.

-- 
To read makes our speaking English good.

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#120320

On 2019-01-08 17:12, Lewis wrote:
> In message <pcydnf-nHfzcOKnBnZ2dnUU7-LudnZ2d@giganews.com> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>> On 2019-01-07 20:45, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>> On 2019-01-07, Brian Gordon <briang@panix.com> wrote:
>>>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>>>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>>>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>>>> password?
>>>
>>> Use "sudo" (assuming you are in am administrator account).
> 
>> I was trying to add a path to a .cfg in the /etc folder the other day
>> and sudo appeared to work ... but I could not save changes to the file
>> (using Textwrangler or Textedit).
> 
>> In the end, it seems, Mojave Commande Line tools for 10.14 don't work
> 
> They do.
> 
>> well; set up 10.13 CL compatible tools and my compiler works fine now...
> 
> I have no idea what you think you did, but I fear for your system.

See my other reply to JR.


-- 
"2/3 of Donald Trump's wives were immigrants.  Proof that we
  need immigrants to do jobs that most Americans wouldn't do."
                                           - unknown protester

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#120294

In article <q10hl1$ief$1@panix3.panix.com>, Brian Gordon
<briang@panix.com> wrote:

> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
> password?

what file is it and why do you want to delete it?

there's probably a very good reason why it's not letting you do that.

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#120297

In article <070120192342023892%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
nospam  <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>In article <q10hl1$ief$1@panix3.panix.com>, Brian Gordon
><briang@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
>> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not being
>> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the needed
>> password?
>
>what file is it and why do you want to delete it?
>
>there's probably a very good reason why it's not letting you do that.

The file has been identified by CyberByte as being infected. It is
/Library/Preferences/.3FAD0F65-FC6E-4889-B975-B96CBF807B78, and is
the only file in that directory with a name in that format. It was created late
at nignt on 10/24/18.  I have a saved copy, so it can be restored if its
removal causes problems.

-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
| Brian Gordon     -->briang@panix.com<--     brian dot gordon at cox dot net |
+ bgordon@aol.com                                      Bass: NSC Frank Thorne +
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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#120298

In article <q11arg$1mc$1@reader2.panix.com>, Brian Gordon
<briang@panix.com> wrote:

> >> My mac's environment was created eons ago, but my personal login has most
> >> superpowers.  I need to delete a file owned by root/wheel and I am not
> >> being
> >> allowed to do it. Is there some way a privileged user can recover the
> >> needed password?
> >
> >what file is it and why do you want to delete it?
> >
> >there's probably a very good reason why it's not letting you do that.
> 
> The file has been identified by CyberByte as being infected. It is
> /Library/Preferences/.3FAD0F65-FC6E-4889-B975-B96CBF807B78, and is
> the only file in that directory with a name in that format. It was created
> late
> at nignt on 10/24/18.  I have a saved copy, so it can be restored if its
> removal causes problems.

cyberbyte appears to be an antivirus tool, but one that reeks of being
scamware.

does it say if there any other infected files?

see what malwarebytes has to say:
<https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac-download/>

anyway, assuming you know the admin password, use sudo to rm it, which
i assume you've tried.

if that doesn't work, it probably has the uchg and/or schg bits set.

check to confirm (ls -lO) and if so, they'll need to be cleared, which
probably will require single user mode.

if you don't know the admin password, that's a different problem...

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