[SOLVED] Multiple config file not writable: Configuration file "home/$USER/.config/consolerc" not writable. Please contact your system administrator.

andrewysk · 05-16-2021, 11:14 AM

Running on Endea Plasma.

Multiple config file not writable:
Configuration file "home/$USER/.config/consolerc" not writable. Please contact your system administrator.

My laptop was fine last night, until i restarted it and realized most of the software no longer run able. All boiled down to the same error msg:
configuration file not writable.

What seems to be the problem out of the blue ? I didn't crash or shut down system improperly. Didn't mess with it, didn't install something.. not that i remember of.

I tried:

Code:

$ls -al /home/%USER/.config

It shows that all files and folder belongs to me and my group.. there is no fault in it.

I tried:

Code:

$df -h /home/$USER/

It shows that i only used 30% of the available space, so plenty more..

Why with the "multiple configuration files not writable" ?

Please assist me. I can't use the system totally, because most of the software is not able to run due to this problem.

TQ

jsbjsb001 · 05-16-2021, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewysk

Running on Endea Plasma.

Multiple config file not writable:
Configuration file "home/$USER/.config/consolerc" not writable. Please contact your system administrator.

My laptop was fine last night, until i restarted it and realized most of the software no longer run able. All boiled down to the same error msg:
configuration file not writable.

What seems to be the problem out of the blue ? I didn't crash or shut down system improperly. Didn't mess with it, didn't install something.. not that i remember of.

I tried:

Code:

$ls -al /home/%USER/.config

It shows that all files and folder belongs to me and my group.. there is no fault in it.

I tried:

Code:

$df -h /home/$USER/

It shows that i only used 30% of the available space, so plenty more..

Why with the "multiple configuration files not writable" ?

Please assist me. I can't use the system totally, because most of the software is not able to run due to this problem.

TQ

I assume this is an installed system we are talking about here?

If so, you should actually post the output of the following commands,

Code:

ls -la /home/$USER/.config/
df --inodes

so we can see exactly what permissions are set and the inode count.

Use CODE tags when posting output of the above.

berndbausch · 05-16-2021, 12:29 PM

It would also be helpful to know where this error message appears, and what action made it appear.

andrewysk · 05-16-2021, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by berndbausch

It would also be helpful to know where this error message appears, and what action made it appear.

I first notice it when i tried to fire up libre impression to edit a ppt file.
But i notice it kept crashing.... when i tried to open Terminal console (thinking of running in cli), only to realize, it also has got this mentioned error. Then i tried many other software, they all the same.
I reboot 1 time, it is still the same.
That's when i look into ownership of .config folder... they are all owned by me..
I thought could be due to i have not update for long time.. hence tried to run

Code:

$sudo pacman -Syu

, but it also has got some sort of

Code:

unable to lock database

At the end of mean, i reboot it again.. and all is well (apart from libreoffice).

Now only libreoffice cant be use (still).

When i run libreoffice impression, this always happened:

Code:

soffice Closed Unexpectedly
Please report this error to help improve this software

When i click on "report to developer" button this prompted:

Code:

We are sorry, soffice closed unexpectedly. 
You cannot report this error, because soffice does not provide a bug reporting address
Details: 
Executable: soffice PID: 6257 Signal: Bus error (7) Time: 16 may 2021 18:46:32 CEST

when i run libreoffice impression from cli, this is the msg:

Code:

$ libreoffice --impress
javaldx: Could not find a Java Runtime Environment!
Warning: failed to read path from javaldx
KCrash: crashing... crashRecursionCounter = 2
KCrash: Application Name = soffice.bin path = /usr/lib/libreoffice/program pid = 5780
KCrash: Arguments: /usr/lib/libreoffice/program/soffice.bin --nocrashhandler 
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/lib/drkonqi
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 10 and type 'Read', disabling...
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 11 and type 'Read', disabling...
Unable to start Dr. Konqi
Re-raising signal for core dump handling.

Anyway, i am doing system update now.. after update, will see if any thing fixed or not.

mrmazda · 05-16-2021, 01:39 PM

Before you rebooted, had you used sudo or su or logged in as root? If yes, what did you do that way?

The LibreOffice failure smells like a lock file may have been left behind by elevated permissions, possibly in your homedir somewhere. To be sure it is no longer, try:

Code:

sudo chown -R mylogin:mygroup /home/mylogin/

andrewysk · 05-16-2021, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001

I assume this is an installed system we are talking about here?

If so, you should actually post the output of the following commands,

Code:

ls -la /home/$USER/.config/
df --inodes

so we can see exactly what permissions are set and the inode count.

Use CODE tags when posting output of the above.

I manually changed my username to user1 for privacy sake, hope you don't mind.

Code:

$ df --inodes
Filesystem        Inodes  IUsed     IFree IUse% Mounted on
dev              2036219    658   2035561    1% /dev
run              2038541   1029   2037512    1% /run
/dev/sdb1        5177344 753284   4424060   15% /
tmpfs            2038541      6   2038535    1% /dev/shm
tmpfs             409600     37    409563    1% /tmp
/dev/loop0         12841  12841         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/core/10958
/dev/loop1         12842  12842         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/core/11081
/dev/loop2         10790  10790         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/core18/1997
/dev/loop4         63978  63978         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/gtk-common-themes/1514
/dev/loop8            14     14         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/gtk2-common-themes/13
/dev/loop6         13539  13539         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/zoom-client/143
/dev/loop10        64986  64986         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/gtk-common-themes/1515
/dev/loop9         13539  13539         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/zoom-client/142
/dev/loop7         62421  62421         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/wickrme/518
/dev/loop3         27807  27807         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/gnome-3-28-1804/145
/dev/loop5         10817  10817         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/core18/1988
/dev/loop11        62421  62421         0  100% /var/lib/snapd/snap/wickrme/521
/dev/sdb2       55877632 442745  55434887    1% /home
tmpfs             407708     90    407618    1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdc         1957888 567480   1390408   29% /run/media/user1/0bbb1e48-3fd1-4865-9348-69b066c7d2ab
/dev/sda2      143459164 290644 143168520    1% /run/media/user1/user1

Code:

$ ls -la /home/$USER/.config/
total 932
drwx------ 74 user1 user1 12288 May 16 18:38  .
drwx------ 51 user1 user1  4096 May 16 18:28  ..
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    66 Sep 11  2020  akregatorrc
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 Feb 14 22:41  ardour6
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  3766 Apr  5 21:41  arkrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    95 Apr 27 22:38  auroraerc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Mar 20 12:17  autostart
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Sep 11  2020  autostart-scripts
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   551 Sep 11  2020  baloofileinformationrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   814 Mar 12 00:20  baloofilerc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    72 Sep 28  2020  bluedevilglobalrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   460 Sep 13  2020  bluedevil.notifyrc
drwxr-xr-x  7 user1 user1  4096 Feb 26 23:28  bluejeans-v2
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    55 Mar  2 23:28  breezerc
drwxr-xr-x  4 user1 user1  4096 Nov 13  2020  celluloid
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 May 10 02:14  ClipGrab
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   783 Mar 18 19:57  ClipGrabrc
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Apr  9 21:22  configstore
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 May 13 21:57  dconf
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    56 Mar  2 23:08  device_automounter_kcmrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    81 Apr 18 16:14  discoverrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  3861 May 16 18:35  dolphinrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   249 May 16 13:38  drkonqirc
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Oct 18  2020  easytag
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 Apr  9 21:24  Electron
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   173 Feb 11 13:50  emaildefaults
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   201 May 16 18:29  emailidentities
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1    11 Sep 11  2020  EOS-arch-news.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1   291 Jan 31 16:36  EOS-greeter.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1     0 Sep 11  2020  EOS-initial-wallpaper.KDE
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Feb 18 22:29  eos-log-tool
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1   275 Feb 19 07:34  eos-sendlog.txt
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 Mar 15 23:22  fcitx
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 May 16 09:21  fcitx5
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   527 Nov 15 19:27  filelightrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   166 Feb  1 11:54  filetypesrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Jan 31 22:22  flameshot
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   222 Jan 22 09:23  flameshotrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Mar  3 00:07  fontconfig
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 May  1 19:21  FreeCAD
drwx------ 10 user1 user1  4096 Apr  9 21:27  Freechat
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 Jan  9 14:50  GabAI
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Apr  9 22:53  Genymobile
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Sep 13  2020  goa-1.0
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 Jan  8 11:35  google-chrome
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Nov 21 14:34  gtk-2.0
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 May 16 18:28  gtk-3.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Apr 27 22:48  gtk-4.0
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1    52 May 16 18:28  gtkrc
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1    87 May 16 18:28  gtkrc-2.0
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  2156 Apr 26 21:54  gwenviewrc
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Sep 15  2020  htop
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 Mar 15 23:22  ibus
drwxr-x--x 12 user1 user1  4096 Dec 23 21:17  inkscape
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Nov 23 00:28  jack
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1783 Apr  5 21:27  k3brc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    78 Sep 15  2020  kactivitymanagerd-pluginsrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   195 Sep 15  2020  kactivitymanagerdrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1255 Jan 14 01:23  kactivitymanagerd-statsrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1129 May  4 11:48  kalarmrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   875 Feb 19 07:35  kalarmresources
-rw-------  1 user1 user1 10488 May  9 21:39  katemetainfos
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  3883 May  9 22:10  katerc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    56 Sep 11  2020  kateschemarc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   483 Sep 11  2020  katevirc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    33 Feb 11 13:06  kcalcrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1     0 Sep 14  2020  kcmfonts
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   498 Mar 12 01:17  kcminputrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   167 Sep 13  2020  kcmshell5rc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  2887 Apr 27 23:08  kconf_updaterc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Apr 18 15:45  KDE
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 Oct  1  2020  kdeconnect
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    44 Oct  1  2020  kdeconnect.apprc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   135 Nov  8  2020  kded5rc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  6375 May 16 18:29  kded_device_automounterrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  4887 May  2 08:24  kdeglobals
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  4147 Apr 29 19:26  kdenlive-appimagerc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  7075 Jan 19 16:24  kdenlive-layoutsrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  4779 Apr 27 22:33  kdenliverc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 May 16 18:35  kde.org
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   361 Dec  5 20:57  kdfrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   326 Apr  9 23:29  kdialogrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    29 Oct 25  2020  kdiff3fileitemactionrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  3248 Mar 16 08:46  kdiff3rc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 May 11 20:21  KeePass
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1015 Apr 16 08:21  kfindrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    68 Apr 27 22:41  kfontinstuirc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    93 Sep 11  2020  kgammarc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1 16448 May 16 18:28  kglobalshortcutsrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    50 Apr  2 21:04  kgpgrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   677 Mar 15 00:37  khelpcenterrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1 30692 May 16 18:28  khotkeysrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   477 May 14 20:40  kinfocenterrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    78 Oct 25  2020  kio_fishrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   180 Oct 25  2020  kio_ftprc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   128 Jan 18 21:52  kiorc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    36 Jan 10 20:23  klaunchrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    61 Mar 14 19:37  klipperrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   512 Oct  7  2020  kmenueditrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    74 Sep 11  2020  kmixrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   469 Mar  8 00:26  komparerc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1192 May 16 18:38  konsolerc
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1    37 Apr 18 01:06  kritadisplayrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1 22342 Apr 18 01:06  kritarc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    36 Feb 21 19:11  krunnerrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1 12181 Jan  9 15:04  krusaderrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   247 Mar  8 01:03  kscreenlockerrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   409 Oct 25  2020  kservicemenurc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   378 Dec  6 09:13  kshutdownrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  2898 Oct 29  2020  ksmserverrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    33 Mar 14 19:02  ksplashrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   458 Feb 11 14:06  ktimerrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   105 Sep 11  2020  ktimezonedrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   476 Apr 27 22:39  kwalletmanager5rc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   305 May 16 18:35  kwalletrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    33 Nov 26 16:02  kwikdiskrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1658 May 16 18:28  kwinrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   425 Sep 13  2020  kwinrulesrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  2716 Jan  5 23:48  kwriterc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   295 Mar 16 01:35  kxkbrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Feb  4 20:37  lftp
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Sep 11  2020  libaccounts-glib
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 Nov 26 19:18  libreoffice
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Oct  7  2020  menus
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1038 May 13 09:54  mimeapps.list
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 Sep 11  2020  .mono
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Nov 13  2020  mpv
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   122 Feb 27 22:53  networkmanagement.notifyrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   940 Feb 21 16:12  obsrc.bak
drwxr-xr-x  6 user1 user1  4096 Mar 23 11:33  obs-studio
drwxr-xr-x  5 user1 user1  4096 Mar  5 21:56  obs-studio.bak
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1561 Jan  7 18:14  oktetarc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  2464 May 14 20:45  okularpartrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1249 May 14 21:29  okularrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Jan  9 16:17  onlyoffice
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Dec  1 22:35  OpenSCAD
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    45 Dec  1 22:35  OpenSCADrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   243 Dec 30 17:59  org.kde.gwenviewrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    32 Apr 18 13:23  oxygenrc
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1   180 Sep 14  2020  pachist.conf
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Apr 27 23:16  pamac
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1107 Oct 25  2020  partitionmanagerrc
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1   150 Nov 15 13:00  patchagerc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Nov 15 22:35 'Philipp Schmieder'
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Dec  6 09:06  pipewire-media-session
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    35 Feb 11 14:43  plasma_calendar_holiday_regions
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   118 Oct 15  2020  plasma-localerc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    59 Mar 27 11:47  plasma-nm
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   217 Apr 18 14:14  plasmanotifyrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1 22380 May 16 18:29  plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    63 Mar  8 01:05  plasmarc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  6539 Apr 28 07:46  plasmashellrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    98 Apr 18 19:34  plasmawindowed-appletsrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   133 Apr 18 19:34  plasmawindowedrc
drwxr-xr-x  4 user1 user1  4096 Sep 12  2020  plasma-workspace
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    87 Feb  2 00:18  powerdevilrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1023 Feb  2 00:18  powermanagementprofilesrc
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Oct  4  2020  procps
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Sep 11  2020  pulse
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1   512 May  2 08:24  QtProject.conf
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    44 Nov 14  2020  qv4l2rc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Apr 27 23:57  rclone
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Feb 14 20:47  rncbc.org
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   171 Mar  7 23:23  sddmthemeinstallerrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 May 16 18:35  session
drwx------ 15 user1 user1  4096 Jan  9 17:37  Session
drwx------ 18 user1 user1  4096 May 13 09:54  Signal
drwxrwx--x  2 user1 user1  4096 Nov  6  2020  signond
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 Sep 27  2020  Skype
drwxr-xr-x 20 user1 user1  4096 May 16 01:01  skypeforlinux
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 Apr 18 15:02  smplayer
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   278 Nov 13  2020  smplayerrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   384 May  2 08:24  soffice.binrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1360 May  1 13:21  spectaclerc
drwx------  3 user1 user1  4096 Apr 18 13:16  syncthing
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Sep 20  2020  syncthing-gtk
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 Sep 11  2020  systemd
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  2138 May  1 17:08  systemmonitorrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1  1168 Apr 29 19:25  systemsettingsrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Mar 20 23:44  tcpview
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Feb 27 23:06  teamviewer
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    45 Feb 27 23:04  TeamViewerrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   828 Feb 18 23:12  TelegramDesktoprc
drwxr-xr-x 17 user1 user1  4096 Feb  1 17:40  temp-andrew-skypeforlinux
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Feb 13 20:19  terminator
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Oct  7  2020  tlpui
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    60 Sep 12  2020  touchpadxlibinputrc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1    21 Apr 20 20:57  trashrc
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1  1059 May 16 18:28  Trolltech.conf
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Dec 10 16:06 'Unknown Organization'
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   633 Sep 11  2020  user-dirs.dirs
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1     5 Sep 11  2020  user-dirs.locale
drwx------  2 user1 user1  4096 Apr  9 22:55  VirtualBox
drwx------ 24 user1 user1  4096 May  9 21:55  vivaldi
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 May 16 13:34  vlc
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   359 Jan 25 21:10  vlcrc
-rw-r--r--  1 user1 user1    55 Jan 19 09:37  welcome.conf
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   154 Mar 21 17:15  xdg-desktop-portal-kderc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 May 16 18:28  xsettingsd
drwxr-xr-x  3 user1 user1  4096 Nov 13  2020  xylosper
-rw-------  1 user1 user1   107 Oct 25  2020  yakuakerc
drwxr-xr-x  2 user1 user1  4096 Sep 11  2020  yay

The config file not writable problem is gone after 2nd reboot.. have no idea what the deal, this linux is always weird.. discouraging.

andrewysk · 05-16-2021, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Before you rebooted, had you used sudo or su or logged in as root? If yes, what did you do that way?

The LibreOffice failure smells like a lock file may have been left behind by elevated permissions, possibly in your homedir somewhere. To be sure it is no longer, try:

Code:

sudo chown -R mylogin:mygroup /home/mylogin/

Just did that and now rebooting.

andrewysk · 05-16-2021, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Before you rebooted, had you used sudo or su or logged in as root? If yes, what did you do that way?

The LibreOffice failure smells like a lock file may have been left behind by elevated permissions, possibly in your homedir somewhere. To be sure it is no longer, try:

Code:

sudo chown -R mylogin:mygroup /home/mylogin/

libreoffice impression still the same, crash upon starting
in my experience, libreoffice is a piece of useless thing.. no match compare to microsoft powerpoint.
tried to use it many time, just can't get anything done.

andrewysk · 05-16-2021, 02:01 PM

It solved itself after 2nd reboot. tq