per_adua32 wrote: > > > A while back I noticed that there was a number 2 >in some of my directories. Initially my first reaction >was to delete them as I had not created them. Even this >took a while as they were actually named 2space ie '2 ', >which was not obvious to me. > > Last week I discovered some more of these files and >decided to look inside one. I used 'file' and discovered that >they were text files. I used 'cat' and the following was displayed: > > > /usr/bin/updatedb: /var/lib/locate/locatedb.n: Permission denied > find:/etc/ppp:Permission denied > find:/etc/chatscripts:Permission denied > find:/root:Permission denied > find:/bin/secure-su:Permission denied > updated: new database would be empty > > > As I write this E-mail I seem only now to notice what the >contents of the file actually mean. I hope I am wrong. I am a home >user and the only network I'm connected to is the internet, and I >haven't used this for a month or two as I intended to change my isp. These are error messages. Somewhere someone has tried to redirect error messages and has written `>2'. I can't, at the moment, think what he might have inadvertently done to get a space on the end. `>2\ ' or `>"2 "' are two ways of accomplishing it.
He might well have been meaning to direct stderr to stdout: `2>&1'; given sufficient confusion of mind or fingers, anything is possible! Try looking at scripts run (not as root) from cron. -- Oliver Elphick [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver PGP key from public servers; key ID 32B8FAA1 ======================================== "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." I Corinthians 15:58
