Editing system files from within Emacs

["T. V. Raman" <raman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

There are two solutions I use regularly for this situation--
and first off, whatever else you do, dont run
emacs/emacspeak permanently as root.

Solution 1)

In an eterm buffer, set TERM to vt100 
become root and run vi 

2) From your running emacspeak session (where you are logged
in as yourself)
open the system file as 
find-file
/root@xxxxxxxxxxx:/path
--this will prompt for the root password and use ftp to the
local machine under the hoods to open the file as root.

--Raman
Jason White writes:
 > Recently, I have confronted the problem of how best to edit system files
 > while logged in as an ordinary user and working via Emacspeak. My solution
 > involves visiting the relevant directory in shell mode, becoming the super
 > user, changing the ownership of the file temporarily from "root" to my
 > login name, editing the file in Emacs (with find-file: c-x, c-f) and then,
 > after having saved the file, changing its ownership back to "root". I also
 > tried running Emacs from an eterm buffer, but the cursor keys did not
 > operate correctly and editing text was not very convenient.
 > 
 > Has anyone devised a better approach than those outlined above?
 > 
 > Jason.
 > 
 > 
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-- 
Best Regards,
--raman

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