Re: Device File Permissions

[Hall Stevenson <hallstevenson@mindspring.com>]

* Andrew Gronosky (agronosky@mediaone.net) [001228 20:53]:
> 
> I noticed that some important device files- for example, /dev/dsp and
> /dev/lp0 - are owned by root, belong to special groups (audio and lp,
> respectively), and most importantly are *not* world-writeable.
> 
> Is there an important reason for this, and would it be a mistake to
> chmod the device files so processes running under an ordinary userid can
> write to /dev/audio and /dev/lp0?  It seems there may be something I'm
> missing here... I want the devices to work with Debian software and with
> third-party software such as Loki games and StarOffice. :)

Add yourself to the groups that those devices belong to. For instance, as you mention, /dev/dsp has root.audio ownership. Add yourself to the "audio" group.

Here's what "id" says about me:

~> id
uid=1000(hall) gid=1000(hall) groups=1000(hall),24(cdrom),29(audio)

Regards
Hall