problem with chmod

[Bret Busby <bret@busby.net>]

I have created a new data partition for a Ubuntu/Debian dual boot 
system, using gparted from the Debian 4 installation.

Now I have to figure out how to make the new data partition accessible.

chmod (from the Debian system) seems to be designed to frustrate.

it used to be that using a syntax like
chmod 777 <target>
would make a file/directory able to be written to and read from (and executed) 
by anyone.

I know that is how the syntax used to be, because I remember a person (on a 
UNIX system) losing his account, when he accidentally entered
chmod .
, which changed his . file permissions to zero, and not even the sysadmin could 
save his account, so he had to be issued with a new account.

And, I have used the numbers for permissions in Linux, when I have previously 
had to change permissions, when FTP'ing files up to web sites.

Now, it seems, that doesn't work anymore, and I can't figure out how to make 
chmod work.

I have tried using what I understand to be the required syntax from "man 
chmod" for Debian 4, but I can't get it to work. It returns errors for 
the syntax.

If I use the format above, no error is returned; it just doesn't do 
anything.

"
chmod 777 /data
bretnewworkstation:~# ls -l /data
total 16
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 2009-04-02 17:34 lost+found
"

Attempts:

"
bretnewworkstation:~# chmod 777 /data
bretnewworkstation:~# ls -l /data
total 16
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 2009-04-02 17:34 lost+found
bretnewworkstation:~# chmod rwxXstugoa /data
chmod: invalid mode: `rwxXstugoa'
Try `chmod --help' for more information.
bretnewworkstation:~# chmod +rwxXstugoa /data
chmod: invalid mode: `+rwxXstugoa'
Try `chmod --help' for more information.
bretnewworkstation:~# chmod --help
Usage: chmod [OPTION]... MODE[,MODE]... FILE...
  or:  chmod [OPTION]... OCTAL-MODE FILE...
  or:  chmod [OPTION]... --reference=RFILE FILE...
Change the mode of each FILE to MODE.

  -c, --changes           like verbose but report only when a change is 
made
      --no-preserve-root  do not treat `/' specially (the default)
      --preserve-root     fail to operate recursively on `/'
  -f, --silent, --quiet   suppress most error messages
  -v, --verbose           output a diagnostic for every file processed
      --reference=RFILE   use RFILE's mode instead of MODE values
  -R, --recursive         change files and directories recursively
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit

Each MODE is of the form `[ugoa]*([-+=]([rwxXst]*|[ugo]))+'.

Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.
bretnewworkstation:~# chmod ugoa*+ rwx /data
chmod: invalid mode: `ugoa*+'
Try `chmod --help' for more information.
bretnewworkstation:~# chmod ugoa*+ rwx /dev/hda8
chmod: invalid mode: `ugoa*+'
Try `chmod --help' for more information.
"

The current status of the partition is:
"
 ls -l /data
total 16
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 2009-04-02 17:34 lost+found
"

The Debian fstab entry (I edited the fstab file, to incorporate the partition, 
from the Debian side) is
"
/dev/hdc8       /data           ext3    defaults        0       0
"

Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams,
  published by Pan Books, 1992

....................................................