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After

chattr +i /etc/hosts

I can't edit this file (obviously). But how can I revert it back. I need to edit this file and then lock again.

UPD

ls -l /etc/hosts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 274 2011-06-09 14:14 /etc/hosts

UPD 2

lsattr /etc/hosts
-----a-----------e- /etc/hosts

UPD 3

Thanx, @womble, I've removed a attribute

chattr -a /etc/hosts
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82% accept rate
lsattr /etc/hosts would be useful to see. Also, "Operation is denied" is not the usual error message you'd expect to see for a permissions problem; I suspect something else is wrong. – womble Aug 11 '11 at 8:21
@womble Operation is denied is my translation of error from my localization. – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:24
Please don't do your own translations; get error messages in the C locale and post them directly -- exact wording can be critical in diagnosing what's gone wrong. – womble Aug 11 '11 at 8:28
@womble, Thank you! I don't know how can I switch locale for only one command (it is system-wide). I can switch to English in whole system only. – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:30
3  
LANG=C <command> will do it. – womble Aug 11 '11 at 8:30
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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

chattr -i will remove immutability, then you can chattr +i it again afterwards.

EDIT

Based on your lsattr output, you've also set "append-only". Clear that as well (chattr -a).

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and what if not? It is still denied to edit. I've tried it already before I wrote my question. Looks like something is messed in permissions to this file. – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:13
Did you edit it as root? Or, as in the world of Ubuntu, sudo <yourtexteditor> /etc/hosts? – Janne Pikkarainen Aug 11 '11 at 8:15
@Janne Pikkarainen yep of course :). But it still throws an error Operation is denied. – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:18
Add more info to your question, not comments. Also, if you've already tried that, why didn't you mention it in your question? – womble Aug 11 '11 at 8:21
@womble, done :) – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:23
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up vote 1 down vote

I guess you have (accidentally|purposely) made your /etc immutable as well. Try chattr -i /etc as well. If that was not the case, please fill your question more. Give us stat /etc and stat /etc/hosts as well as lsattr /etc/hosts.

Can you modify any other file under /etc?

EDIT after your own edit: You have a attribute set for /etc/hosts. That means you can only append to that file, every other write operation is denied. Try chattr -a /etc/hosts.

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QUestion is updated. I can edit other files – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:23
And my answer is edited, too. – Janne Pikkarainen Aug 11 '11 at 8:27
Thanks. I am not sure how it happened :) – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:31
fl00r: Don't be shy, we can all guess how it happened. Enough administrative beer and a willingness to harden your server can lead to interesting situations. – Janne Pikkarainen Aug 11 '11 at 8:34
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up vote 1 down vote

The a attribute makes your file append-only, use chattr -a to remove it. See man 1 chattr to see what all other attribute flags are are.

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Thank you, I'll read it now – fl00r Aug 11 '11 at 8:32
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