"Do have permission"...

[J.to.the.ason]

Im reading through the Linux How-to forums about installing software from source.
It recommends saving source files to the /usr/local/src directory but whenever I try to save to that location it wont download the file. So i have saved the file to my desktop and tried to copy it to that location and it informs me I dont have permission to copy files into the folder.

your #1 noob,
J.to.the.ason

[devils casper]

You must have root privileges to access Folders outside of your Home Folder ( /home/user_is ).
Open Terminal and Execute 'su' command to gain root privileges.

su
cp ~/Desktop/<file_name> /usr/local/src

[J.to.the.ason]

i tried the su command earlier with no effect.

you command line after that (not sure what it does... transfer the file?) didnt work it said it couldnt find the directory.

i tried to edit the permissions for the /usr/local/src folder to allow me to write data into it but it says im not the owner.

i went into the user management utility and added myself to every group in the list and made my primary group "root" hoping that would make me owner... it did not.

i love linux and hope to raise above noob status someday... but for now this is frustrating.

[devils casper]

Could you post the exact error message here?

su
cd ~/Desktop
ls
cp <file_name> /usr/local/src

[J.to.the.ason]

jason@linux-qohb:~> su
Password:
linux-qohb:/home/jason # cd ~/desktop
bash: cd: /root/desktop: No such file or directory

is what i keep getting.

[J.to.the.ason]

thanks for all the help by the way

[devils casper]

cd to home folder of Normal User.

su
cd /home/<user_id>/Desktop

[gogalthorp]

jason@linux-qohb:~> su
Password:
linux-qohb:/home/jason # cd ~/desktop
bash: cd: /root/desktop: No such file or directory

is what i keep getting.

You must capitalize desktop ie Desktop Linux is case sensitive unlike windows which is not.