[skyman]

What is my root password?

I tried my OS X log in password but that was not it?

[fitter]

By default the root password on OS X is set to *, meaning you can't log in as root the usual way. The easiest, and recommended way, to execute commands needing root privileges is with the sudo command:

sudo vi /etc/hostconfig

To get a root shell:

sudo -s

Enter your admin password at the prompt. Once you're root, you can give root a valid password simply by typing 'passwd root'.

[skyman]

Originally posted by fitter:
By default the root password on OS X is set to *, meaning you can't log in as root the usual way. The easiest, and recommended way, to execute commands needing root privileges is with the sudo command:

sudo vi /etc/hostconfig

To get a root shell:

sudo -s

Enter your admin password at the prompt. Once you're root, you can give root a valid password simply by typing 'passwd root'.

All I want to do is edit the httpd.conf file. To do this I need to log in as root. How do I log in as root in the terminal? Also, how do I log out as well. Sorry for sounding stupid, I just dont want to screw anything up. Step by step would be great.

Thanks!

[dtriska]

To edit httpd.conf via the Terminal, type the following:

sudo pico /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

You will be asked for your admin password. Type it in, and you will be able to edit httpd.conf in pico, a command-line text editor. You can also use other command-line text editors instead of pico (just substitute the name of the other editor for pico in the above command).

When you're done and you've gotten out of pico, type:

exit

That will close your session.

If you want to learn more about pico, type:

man pico

[iJed]

Assuming you are admin you could also do this:

1) Change the group and permissions on the file

sudo chown :admin /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
sudo chmod 664 /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

2) Open the file with TextEdit as yourself

open -a TextEdit /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

[skyman]

Originally posted by dtriska:
To edit httpd.conf via the Terminal, type the following:

sudo pico /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

You will be asked for your admin password. Type it in, and you will be able to edit httpd.conf in pico, a command-line text editor. You can also use other command-line text editors instead of pico (just substitute the name of the other editor for pico in the above command).

When you're done and you've gotten out of pico, type:

exit

That will close your session.

If you want to learn more about pico, type:

man pico

Phew!

pico did the trick. Boy was I nervous messing arround with pico, but I took my time and changed the httpd.conf file and now SSI's work!!

Thanks for the help!

[iJed]

Originally posted by iJed:
Assuming you are admin you could also do this:

1) Change the group and permissions on the file

sudo chown :admin /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
sudo chmod 664 /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

2) Open the file with TextEdit as yourself

open -a TextEdit /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

OK this doesn't seem to work. TextEdit cannot save for some reason! Can anyone explain why this is?

[Rainy Day]

OK this doesn't seem to work. TextEdit cannot save for some reason! Can anyone explain why this is?

The permissions for the enclosing folder/directory don't allow it; they need to be changed too.