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I recently switched from Windows 8.1 to Ubuntu.

Yesterday, I wanted to install PHP but during tutorial I did this:

sudo chown -R joy /var/www

but now onward for every command it ask for password

$ sudo apt-get install vlc 
sudo: /var/lib/sudo owned by uid 1000, should be uid 0
[sudo] password for joy:

I tried to search on google about that & I come to know that I recursively granted ownership of the directory /var/www and all files and subdirectories, to user joy.

Now I want to reset everything back like before I recursively granted ownership.

Rmano
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Zarron
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  • `/var/lib` is not under `/var/www`; are you sure about the command you used? You probably did `sudo chown -R joy /var /www` --- notice the space between `/var` and `/www` (and the `sudo`). That could have royally destroyed your system. Nevertheless, the fact that the system is asking your password for installing a package is completely normal. – Rmano Oct 12 '14 at 15:00
  • This is very similar to http://askubuntu.com/questions/43621/what-if-i-accidently-run-command-chmod-r-on-system-directories-etc – Rmano Oct 12 '14 at 15:14
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    ...and after that, please read http://askubuntu.com/questions/20105/why-shouldnt-var-www-have-chmod-777 (I know you didn't do that, but it's the next step ;-) ... prevention!) – Rmano Oct 12 '14 at 15:20
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    Here's a list of files/directories in my system's `/var`, which aren't owned by `root:root`: http://paste.ubuntu.com/8546503/. You can use those as a reference (`bro3886` is my username, so replace that with `joy`). – muru Oct 12 '14 at 15:22

1 Answers1

-1

Update:

Try this:
sudo chown -h root /var/lib/sudo

This will change the owner of /var/lib/sudo to root

devGeek
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    Most directory under `/var` are owned by root, yes, but there are important exceptions. Look at `/var/spool/cron` for example; `cron` will have difficult time to work without the access to them. The `chown -R` command is destructive, and it's impossible to go back short of a restore form backup or reinstall. – Rmano Oct 12 '14 at 15:05
  • Not all subdirectories and files in `/var` are owned by `root` though, so this is not an absolute fix. – douggro Oct 12 '14 at 15:05
  • I Agree. But, that won't harm the @user3146073 as in this case Ubuntu is not installed on a host machine. It's only a single user. And, he won't mind using `sudo -i` otherwise – devGeek Oct 12 '14 at 15:11
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    Even if it is only a single user system, there are system users like `lightdm`, `cron`, etc. which need to have directories owned by them. This suggestion is likely to severely harm this user's system. – muru Oct 12 '14 at 15:12
  • @douggro Okay, got it. May the update works. – devGeek Oct 12 '14 at 15:22
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    @yes that can solve the specific problem --- better like that. But it's still not a solution (btw, I didn´t downvote). – Rmano Oct 12 '14 at 15:33
  • @muru Yeah, the system is already "damaged" though and `root` owns most of the stuff in `/var` so it would be better than having it owned by another user... – douggro Oct 12 '14 at 17:12