This Debian-user thread seems to have gone silent, but it is not clear whether your problem is solved. If it is, just ignore this and move on. If not:
The Wanderer, in an earlier post (04/28/2023 at 19;02), suggested reinstalling the base-files package. I believe this is the correct procedure, at least to start with. It should be relatively free from any risk of doing further damage to your system. The same post also suggested you might need to reinstall other packages if they had created subdirectories under /var that are not included in the base-files package, That also should not significantly risk any further damage. Reinstalling installed packages sometimes helps and in my experience (almost 30 years now) is unlikely to be harmful. Reinstalling base-files (and other packages as needed) also should correct any permission problems that may have crept in.
How to reinstall a package depends on how you maintain or upgrade your system.
If you use synaptic or aptitude, both have reinstall options that you can choose from the menu or submenu you would use for a new package installation.
If you log in as root on a terminal or terminal emulator to install and upgrade software, the command would be
apt install --reinstall <name of package> - for example,
apt install --reinstall base-files
If you use sudo in a terminal or terminal emulator to maintain software, use the above commands prefixed by "sudo" as you normally would for actions that need administrator privileges.
This should reinstall the version of the base-files (or other named package) that matches the most recently installed version.
I think the reinstall process might sometimes pause to ask you to choose between installing the default configuration file from the package or keeping an existing one that you might have changed. It should be safe to keep the one already installed.
If you have questions about any of this, feel free to ask, either privately or on the list.
Regards,
Tom Dial
On 4/28/23 20:36, Maureen L Thomas wrote:
Here is what I got.
root@debian:/var# /bin/ls -ld */
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 28 15:46 backups/
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Apr 12 20:20 cache/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 28 20:59 cores/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 13 2020 games/
drwxr-xr-x 62 root root 4096 Apr 12 20:20 lib/
drwxrwsr-x 2 root staff 4096 Sep 19 2020 local/
drwxrwxrwt 3 root root 100 Apr 28 21:13 lock/
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Apr 28 21:36 log/
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Nov 12 2020 lost+found/
drwxrwsr-x 2 root mail 4096 Nov 12 2020 mail/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 12 2020 opt/
drwxr-xr-x 27 root root 760 Apr 28 22:31 run/
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4096 Apr 27 22:58 snap/
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Nov 12 2020 spool/
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Apr 28 22:32 tmp/
root@debian:/var#
Reinstalling the base-files package should create or correct the following directories under /var:
/var
/var/backups
/var/cache
/var/lib
/var/lib/dpkg
/var/lib/misc
/var/local
/var/lock
/var/log
/var/run
/var/spool
/var/tmp
On 4/28/23 10:17 PM, Greg Wooledge wrote:
On Fri, Apr 28, 2023 at 10:05:01PM -0400, Maureen L Thomas wrote:
Yes my figures are very similar to yours. But even after a reboot I still
cannot burn a back up disk.
Do not look at the NUMBERS.
OWNER.
GROUP.
PERMISSIONS.
The numbers mean nothing.
On 4/28/23 9:04 PM, Greg Wooledge wrote:
Make sure you get the ownership and permissions correct.
unicorn:/var$ /bin/ls -ld */
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 22 06:25 backups/
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4096 Jul 31 2022 cache/
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Mar 3 2018 games/
drwxr-xr-x 50 root root 4096 Jul 31 2022 lib/
drwxrwsr-x 2 root staff 4096 Nov 19 2017 local/
See that? Group write. Set-group-id. Group staff. Probably not a big
deal, because who the hell uses /var/local for anything, but there is
no excuse for not checking the OWNER, GROUP and PERMISSIONS.
drwxrwxrwt 3 root root 80 Mar 25 16:03 lock/
Group and world write. Sticky bit.
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4096 Apr 24 08:12 log/
drwxrwsr-x 2 root mail 4096 Oct 28 2021 mail/
Group write, setgid.
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 11 2018 opt/
drwxr-xr-x 10 root qmail 4096 Jan 12 2018 qmail/
drwxr-xr-x 26 root root 760 Mar 27 15:39 run/
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Jan 29 2021 spool/
drwxrwxrwt 6 root root 4096 Apr 28 21:02 tmp/
Group and world write. Sticky bit.
THIS is what matters.