[01pwm]

Hey all,

I'm trying to install the new DIVX codec posted on the MacNN main page today. To install, you've got to put it into /Library/Quicktime. First though, you have to delete any older versions of the codec. When I try to remove the existing "ffmpeg.component," OS X claims that I don't have sufficient privileges for this. I'm the only user on this machine, and I've never had a permissions error before.

I then tried to delete it from the command line, using sudo. After navigating to the directory with the little UNIX I know, I first tried,

sudo rm ffmpeg.component

OS X replied that "ffmpeg.component" was a directory, so I tried,

sudo rmdir ffmpeg.component

OS X then said that the directory wasn't empty, so I did,

sudo rmdir -r ffmpeg.component

OS X then said there was a usage problem with the syntax. I thought that "-r" was the flag to delete the directory and everything in it.

Anybody have any ideas here?

Thanks

[dtriska]

You will need 10.2 for these suggestions.

First, try to correct the permissions problem using Disk Utility (select the startup volume and go to the "First Aid" tab).

If that doesn't work, you can manually change the permissions of ffmpeg.component. Select the file and Get Info on it (in the File menu). Click on the "Ownership & Permissions:" triangle. Here, you can then click on the lock icon, authenticate with an admin user, and change the owner of the file to yourself.

[Gul Banana]

To more directly answer your question: instead of rmdir -r, just use rm -r. rmdir is pretty useless.

[iamnid]

I've had similar problems and despite having jaguar, none of the above fixes ever works...

If you have OS 9 on your system, just reboot and kill the file there... what am I going to do when I get a new mac that doesn't boot OS 9?

[IUJHJSDHE]

Originally posted by iamnid:
I've had similar problems and despite having jaguar, none of the above fixes ever works...

If you have OS 9 on your system, just reboot and kill the file there... what am I going to do when I get a new mac that doesn't boot OS 9?

root, single user mode maybe