permission problem I think??

[xaosai]

I just bought a new G5 with bash instead of my old mac's tcsh. I'm trying to add the fink bins "/sw/bin" and "/sw/sbin/" to the PATH variable using x11 so I can easily run my downloads. Problems:

Tried to modify the file '~/.profile' by add the following line:
export PATH="$PATH:/sw/bin:/sw/sbin"
I used pico editor to add the line but it wouldn't let me save it.

Then, I tried to modify permissions on the file '.profile' and
the error message says operation not permitted in either terminal or x11.

Then, tried logging in as root using 'su' and bash didn't accept my password even though my account is admin. Upon inspecting my G4, under the security menu in account preferences, I noticed the little check box "Allow user to administer this computer" was checked, whereas on my G5 it is not. Any ideas on what to do? All I want to do is change my path in x11 so I can run xmms. Thanks.

[Viro]

If you want the changes to stick in X11, you need to edit the .xinitrc file and not the .profile.

As for changing permissions, why not use sudo? So you'd type 'sudo chmod a+rw .profile' without the quotes to change the permissions of .profile

[xaosai]

Sudo worked. I don't see a hidden file called .xinitrc anywhere on my machine. Which directory should it be in? home? Should i just create it? Thanks.

[Viro]

It should exist in your home directory. Just like .profile you will have to create it if it doesn't exist.