Gary is correct about both the typo in etc/group (see below if you care)and the general philosophy of using groups to solve permission issues. I had tried that at the beginning and made a typical newbie mistake I did su root <password> adduser chipg audio exit <try audio player> Didn't work! My (chipg's) new status as a member of audio group doesn't take effect until chipg logs out and back in.
Now I follow The Debian Way(TM) -Chip Grandits Gary L. Hennigan wrote: > Chip Grandits <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [...] > | I've taken the quick and dirty way out with a security hole, because > | anyone can read > [...] > | Alternately YOU could join the audio group, that way you could use > | audio devices but > | other mortal users > | could not (unless the root similarly grants them the ability) I > | don't know of a > | command line utility to add > | users to groups, simply modify /etc/group (again as root); under > | default debian 1.3.1 > | there is a line > | audio:x:29: > | simply add your user name to make > > | audio:x:yourname > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Not quite, you deleted the group number in the line above. Do that and > you'll be hurtin'. The line should look like: > > audio:x:29:yourname > > The Debian Way (TM) is indeed to add yourself, and anyone else who you > want to have access to the audio devices, to the audio group. The > easiest way to do this is with the adduser command. For example, to > add joebloe to the audio group simply, as root, do: > > adduser joebloe audio > > I think this was true under 1.3 as well, but you'd have to check. This > is much better than going around setting the GID bit on dozens of > programs that access the device, and almost as simple as changing the > permission on the device to 666, without losing the security. > > The other problem with changing permissions on devices is knowing what > a device does. There are a number of audio devices that are relevant > and it's much easier to add yourself to the audio group and let the > Debian maintainers worry about which devices are relevant to the audio > group. AND what happens when you upgrade? It's possible the > permissions will be reverted back when you upgrade and you'll end up > having to change the permissions all over again. > > In short, stick with the method of adding yourself to the group which > has access to a particular device. It's safe, in terms of security and > future upgrades, and easy, plus, it is the Debian Way (TM). > > Gary