Bugzilla – Bug 136735
Acroread does not write to VFAT
Last modified: 2007-09-28 11:41:14 UTC
When I try to save a PDF file with acroread to /windows/C/ it tells me "Not super-user". This is probably because the files on the VFAT partition are owned by root.users and directories are chmod 775 (which is the default set by Suse). This happens from inside the browser and when I start acroread directly. Other programs have no problems at all.
This default can be changed in /etc/fstab, where you can use the umask=... option with FAT filesystems. Sorry but we cannot support Adobe Acrobat Reader because it is closed source software, so we cannot change anything here. +x makes sense because it makes directories browsable and executables executable. You can also change the uid= and gid= on the desired fs which would make it writable to users with lower privilleges. On the other hand this could be considered a security risk, specially if the fs is set as read+write, because a wrong command could easily destroy your Windows installation there. For beginners these settings are quite safe, but you can always change them as an experienced user. Another solution would be to run the Acrobat Reader with root privilleges (maby by a suid bit or with sudo). I'd like if if Jiri could provide some comment here? What do you think, Jiri?
Well, I can mess up my windows system even with the default Suse settings, but that is not the point. I just checked and I get that error message even when I _am_ the super user. Same thing if I am the user that owns the file (added a uid=myself to the fstab). So acroread will not write to VFAT _at_all_. I also know that you cannot fix this bug yourself because the software is not open source. However, when a new acroread comes out you now have 2 good reasons (together with #136738) to update. It also might be a good idea if not just some (not even paying) customer like me is asking for a bugfix, but a company like Suse. Anyway, using google I finally managed to find the bugreport form and will also report these bugs to Adobe.
> It also might be a good idea if not just some (not even paying) customer like me > is asking for a bugfix, but a company like Suse. It's always OK if it helps to raise the quality of our product. We listen to everybody here. That's what open source is all about ;) I guess you have no problems with other applications, so that is indeed acroread specific? I will add the maintainer into the CC here. This might as well be an already known issue. George: Is this problem known? Maby we should release an updated version or patch, if this is already fixed by Adobe. Please look into it.
I'm not sure why I took Jiri into CC here, sorry Jiri, I'll remove you ;)
I don't have any problems with other applications. Otherwise there'd be bugreports already since I regularly use VFAT. ;) It has not yet been fixed by Adobe. I tried out Adobe's rpm for version 7.0.1 from their website instead of the Suse rpm, but it doesn't fix this issue.
Then there is nothing we can do at the moment. I will assign this bug to the package maintainer of acroread and close it with the notification that it will be fixed later. You're also invited to investigate further and have a look from time to time if the problem has been fixed by Adobe. If so, please let us know and reopen this bug. All involved people will be notified.
See comment #6
I have notified Acroread about this problem (seen on fat32 by another customer). They are looking at it for 7.0.5 or later.
Works now in Suse 10.3 RC1. Haven't checked earlier versions.
Setting it to fixed...