[SOLVED] Strange permissions issue

[cadfael]

I'm running MythDora at home.
Today on my MythDora backend I set up vncserver so I can connect in and use nice GUI tools like Handbrake or . Unfortunately, Handbrake is unable to write to the storage directory, /storage.

Here's where it gets weird:

• /storage and all subdirectories and files are owned by mythtv:mythtv
• group mythtv has rwx privileges on all folders and files in /storage
• the user trying to write to /storage (petey) is a member of group mythtv

Ergo, I should be able to ssh or vnc in and "do stuff" in that directory as user "petey." Only, I can't, unless I sudo.

Oddly enough, when I browse /storage via samba I can make any and all changes I want.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

[Tarthen]

Mythtv:mythtv is the user mythtv in the group mythtv. You don't own /storage, and your user seems to have no permissions.

Here's what you do. Log in as you in a graphical session. Open a terminal, and write "gksu nautilus". Enter password. Then navigate to /. Right click it and go to permissions. Set the mythtv group as "read and write". Make it do it to everything inside the folder. Try it then. If that doesn't work, allow everything. Then see.

[cadfael]

Mythtv:mythtv is the user mythtv in the group mythtv. You don't own /storage, and your user seems to have no permissions.

Here's what you do. Log in as you in a graphical session. Open a terminal, and write "gksu nautilus". Enter password. Then navigate to /. Right click it and go to permissions. Set the mythtv group as "read and write". Make it do it to everything inside the folder. Try it then. If that doesn't work, allow everything. Then see.

Well, as it turned out, I did have those permissions.

The GROUP mythtv had read-write permissions as I stated above, because I did a CHMOD 775 from bash (so both the owner "mythtv" and the group "mythtv" have rwx permissions on that directory). User "petey" was a member of that group ergo that user should have inherited those permissions immediately.

I couldn't figure out then why it wasn't working, but after a reboot it was fine. So, is there some service that controls this sort of thing that I can just restart next time? Not sure why the chmod didn't take effect immediately.