[NTLUG:Discuss] root can not edit hosts.deny file

[Jack Snodgrass]

On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 13:45:26 +0000, m m wrote:

> Hi All:
> 
> there is a weird (at least to me) thing happen on my RH 6.2 box.
> 
> I tried to edit the hosts.deny, and get not permission error.
> check it with ls -l
> 
> -rw-r--r-- root root .... hosts.deny
> 
> of course I login as root.
> 
> I can't mv this file to other name either.
> 
> what's wrong? please help.
> 
> thanks.
> 


do an 
lsattr /etc/hosts.deny 
( list attributes ) and see if the 'i' bit is set on your
/etc/hosts.deny file. 

You can use chattr to set the 'i' bit on a file ( lsattr shows 
attributes ) and make a file non-writable by ANYONE. This doesn't
show up in the normal ls -lart listing. You have to use lsattr to 
see what files have the 'i' bit set on them. 

jack