Re: vim vs nano on editing system files

* Dahong Tang <tang.dahong@gmail.com> [2013-08-08 04:16]:
> On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 8:48:56 PM UTC-5, Ben Fritz wrote:
> > On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 8:42:20 PM UTC-5, Dahong Tang wrote:
> > > I have a system configuration file that belongs to root.
> > > I can edit this file in nano using the command sudo nano,
> > > but I can't edit it using sudo vim - it's always read-only
> > > in vim, unless it is opened by root. Does anyone know why
> > > is this? Is there an option in vim that would allow the
> > > file to be edited via sudo vim, just like in nano? Thanks!
> >
> > I don't know why that is. Can Vim write it anyway?
> > I.e. do you just mean that Vim has its own 'readonly'
> > option set, or can Vim actually not write the file?
>
> I think vim has its own readonly option. If I use :w!,
> then it would override the readonly option, and the file can
> be edited subsequently with sudo vim. I don't understand why.

nano doesnt show any permissions, vim does. end of story.

(we simply have a description of
a problem lacking information.)

so.. as root create a file in /tmp
and make it only readable for root:

$ FILE=/tmp/testfile
$ sudo touch $FILE
$ sudo chmod 400 $FILE

now compare what nano and vim tell you:

$ sudo nano $FILE
$ sudo vim $FILE

nano doesnt say anything..
it's running as "root".

vim, however, checks the permissions
and tells it has got the rights
to write this file or not.
of course, a ":w!" finally make used of
root's priviledges to write anything.

i prefer vim's way. :)

Sven

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