Chapter 12. Recognizing File Access Problems

This chapter describes how to recognize problems with search paths, permissions, and ownership.

Users frequently experience problems—and call on a system administrator for help—because they cannot access a program, a file, or a directory that they could formerly access. Whenever you encounter such a problem, investigate one of the following areas.

• The user's search path may have been changed.

• The directories in the search path may not be in the proper order.

• The file or directory may not have the proper permissions or ownership.

This chapter briefly describes how to recognize problems in each of these areas and suggests possible solutions.