Totaly lost in editing files

[samsoft]

hi friends , i'm totaly new in Linux world .. i just installed Mandrake 10.1 , trying to start SQUID cahce to serve request from my lan , i'm facing a disaster problem .. i cant edit squid.conf !!!! because it said i'm not the owner !!!! who is the owner for god sake ???
at installation i wrote the root password and its ok , but in login screen there is no root choice , its only the user choice , which is nopt the OWNER !!!!!

please please please , i want to edit that file squid.conf ... and i want to do it using one of the gui editor ( please dont advice me to use console one's ) ..

please i'm waiting , i guess its so easy for linux users , so i'm waiting ..

[MikeTbob]

You must edit that file as the root user or su -
Open a terminal and login as root like this

su -

(then press enter) (type password then press enter again)
If su - doesn't work, then use sudo like this

sudo gedit/path/to/squid.conf

Since you don't want to use the command line, I would advise you to use this command if you have Gnome installed.

gedit /path/to/squid.conf &

or if you have KDE, use this command.

kedit /path/to/squid.conf &

[samsoft]

thanks a lot for this fast reply , i'll try it , but i wonder why i cant login gnome or kde gui as the root ?? so i can use windows to go to squid.conf then dbl click on it , editing it ??

[MikeTbob]

thanks a lot for this fast reply , i'll try it , but i wonder why i cant login gnome or kde gui as the root ?? so i can use windows to go to squid.conf then dbl click on it , editing it ??

My understanding is this: running any Desktop Environment as root is a huge security risk, and should not be taken lightly.

[samsoft]

its a personal computer , why its easy in terminal and hard in gui ? why you linux experts always hate GUI ? why they invent GUI ? to make life easier .. right ? so why i have to take the hard way ? while there is a simpler way ?
linux is in a competition with other ( easier ) OS , and if it has to win it has to be easier .. i know its a PROJECT , open source , etc ... but there must be an end , at least a final complete releases , easy to use , powerfull as LINUX.

[MikeTbob]

why its easy in terminal and hard in gui ?

I just showed you the easiest way to do it, that wasn't so hard was it?

why you linux experts always hate GUI ?

First of all, I am far from a Linux expert, I just fiddle with a lot of stuff, thats how I know these things. And secondly, I don't hate GUI, I use KDE myself,

why they invent GUI ? to make life easier .. right?

There are times when using the GUI is a big pain in the ass, when all I want to do is compile something I have no need for a GUI.

linux is in a competition with other ( easier ) OS

Not in my opinion, Linux isn't in it for the competition. Linux is just an alternative, to MS and or Mac.

but there must be an end , at least a final complete releases , easy to use , powerfull as LINUX.

My Linux install is as powerful as anything made from MS, of course I had to make it that way. I can do almost anything a MS user can do.
You have to realize that Linux isn't for everyone. And not every distro will be the one you need, maybe you need to try a different distro or stick with MS.

[samsoft]

ok , i can edit the file , thanx for help ..
now i just cant find the way to run squid !!! i did it before on fedora , now on mandrake it seems different , i just cant find : /usr/local/squid as in fedora ..

now every time i enter squid in command line there must be an error like :
squid -z
-bash: squid: command not found
squid -k configure
-bash: squid: command not found

[Seren]

ok , i can edit the file , thanx for help ..
now i just cant find the way to run squid !!! i did it before on fedora , now on mandrake it seems different , i just cant find : /usr/local/squid as in fedora ..

now every time i enter squid in command line there must be an error like :
squid -z
-bash: squid: command not found
squid -k configure
-bash: squid: command not found

Squid is in /usr/sbin in Mandriva 2007. If you are trying to run that with a non-supervisor account, the system is probably lying to you because you aren't a supervisor and therefore shouldn't know anything about what's in /usr/sbin. Instead of the above, try

sudo squid -z

and

sudo squid -k configure

which will (temporarily) give you the supervisor's rights needed to run squid.