Error in permission, sudo and space problem in Ubuntu v20.04.6

Deb

5/30/24, 2:44 AM

I am trying to give you all the info.. I am quite new on all these things...

Last week I received this while I was trying to install a package on R:

    R error: Installation paths not writable, unable to update packages path: /usr/lib/R/site-library.

Therefore, I did

    sudo chmod -R g+w /site-library

and then I did the same also in R folder and lib folder... However, after trying to install a package, the R error message was the same. I decide to wait for some help and I just lock my screen without turning it off. After the weekend, I back to work and there was the error message that I was running out of space in the /dev/sda3 and it suggest I have to remove the files from the bin, so I did. Then, I restarted the computer because it was quite slow. However, it never turned on again. Looking inside the recovery system from the grub menu I found that there was the /dev/sda3 (with only 46G) completely full and my other partition with almost 4T not mounted anymore. I found an error_log inside the pathway /var/log/cups of about 13G! I cancelled it and I was able to turn on again my PC with the normal boot. However, as soon as I turned it on, I received the error again, no space again in that partition and the error_log is there again (occupying almost 13G again). I have no idea what's going on and I cannot look inside the error_log with less because for some reason I received the error message also if I try to use sudo:

    sudo: error in /etc/sudo.conf, line 0 while loading plugin 'sudoers_policy'
    sudo: /usr/lib/sudo/sudoers.so must only be writable by owner
    sudo: fatal error, unable to load plugins

and I can't mount the other partition either because said that no space is left on device.

Any suggestion would be highly appreciated because at this point I am completely stuck...

0 + 5

permissions

partitioning

sudo

steeldriver

5/30/24, 6:22 PM

If by *"then I did the same also in R folder and lib folder"* you mean that you ran `chmod -R g+w` on `/lib` or `/usr/lib` then unfortunately you messed up - see [What if I accidentally run command "chmod -R" on system directories (/, /etc, ...)](https://askubuntu.com/questions/43621/what-if-i-accidentally-run-command-chmod-r-on-system-directories-etc) and ['sudo' not working after changing the permissions of '/usr' directory](https://askubuntu.com/questions/143554/sudo-not-working-after-changing-the-permissions-of-usr-directory)

Deb

5/31/24, 1:46 AM

Yes, I did exactly that...

Deb

5/31/24, 2:01 AM

Do you think is there any way to go back to the recovery system, cancel the error_log again, mount the partition with 4T and boot in the normal mode for saving in some way a few data that I have there? and then I'll try to adjust all the things by resetting the permission or re-installing Ubuntu...

steeldriver

5/31/24, 10:49 AM

Yes absolutely - in recovery mode, you will need to remount the filesystem `rw` in order to make changes (deleting logs and/or fixing modes on the sudoer files); I'd suggest backing up your data (which can be done while `ro`) first.

Deb

6/9/24, 6:38 AM

Thank you so much for your feedback. In the end, I was able to go back to the recovery system and I saved my files. Then, I decided to reinstall the system with the new version 22.04. I did the "erase disk and install Ubuntu" without changing anything with the advanced options. However, to my great surprise, after the installation, my partition with all my files is still there (now I have one partition with the system installed and the other one with my files).. all the folders have a locker displayed. However, I'm very confused about why they're still there..(??)

Elon Musk

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EN: Error in permission, sudo and space problem in Ubuntu v20.04.6

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