How to delete a file from the file system in Linux when I don't have permission?

Question

I re-installed ns2, but didn't delete a file from the filesystem with path:

/usr/bin/ns

So when I type on my terminal:

which ns

I get:

/usr/bin/ns 

Instead of the path I have set which is:

/home/me/ns-allinone-2.35/bin/ns

This is in my home directory me. How should I delete the file in the filesystem with a similar name? The properties of this file says in permissions that I do not own this file, so I cannot change the permissions.

I can't run my tcl scripts if the path isn't set correctly and to set it, I need to delete the duplicate ns. How to get permission to delete? And how to delete it using my terminal?

Answer 1

It isn't required that you delete the file /usr/bin/ns in order to make which and exec automatically execute /home/me/ns-allinone-2.35/bin/ns.

All you have to do is put /home/me/ns-allinone-2.35/bin on your $PATH prior to /usr/bin.

Here's the wrong way to do it:

export PATH="${PATH}:/home/me/ns-allinone-2.35/bin"

In this case, /usr/bin (by default on $PATH) will be earlier in the $PATH expansion than the one you want, so you'll execute /usr/bin/ns when you run ns or which ns.

Here's the right way to do it:

export PATH="/home/me/ns-allinone-2.35/bin:${PATH}"

Now, just typing ns or which ns will point to the one you want, without having to delete anything.

Update: If you want, to avoid modifying your $PATH in ~/.bashrc or similar, you can create a bash script wrapper around your tcl script that modifies the path first. Something like this:

#!/bin/bash
export PATH="/home/me/ns-allinone-2.35/bin:${PATH}"
tcl ...

If you want to delete /usr/bin/ns anyway, and you do not have access to the root account or the ability to sudo (or to put yourself in the /etc/sudoers file), and /usr/bin/ns is owned by root and is not world-writable, then you are mostly out of options for deleting this file, unless:

• You are able to boot the computer into another operating system (live CD, live USB, etc.), obtain root in that OS, and delete the file;
• You execute some sort of exploit (I do not recommend this if you do not own the machine!)

Basically, "how do I delete a file I don't have permission to delete" is a loaded question: the question assumes that the owner of the machine wants you to delete this file, and wants to give you permission. If the owner of the machine isn't you, you should not be even asking this question, and we will not help you break or intrude into someone else's machine. It'd be like saying "how do I drive this car on the street when I don't have the keys?" -- yeah, good luck with that.

Answer 2

Quick glance at my own /usr/bin/ shows that directory is owned by root. Assuming you can use sudo or su, either rm as root or use chown to change it to your username or group.

You can become root user by simply issuing the su command. In most terminals you'll see your prompt change from $ to a # indicating you're currently logged into the terminal as root. Make sure when you're done as root you exit out immediately as to not inadvertently issue other commands with such elevated access to the file system which could lead to you doing damage to your file system. From there you can use rm on /usr/bin/ns.

The safer route is to use the sudo command to allow for a command to be run as root for just that instance by issuing your rm command like so:

sudo rm /usr/bin/ns

Answer 3

@allquixotic is absolutely right. You can't delete a file if you don't have the permissions to do so and the only way would be to get the permissions by an exploit or by using something like sudo if you have the right. That's the whole point of filesystem permissions.

Now, another approach that you can use to get around this is to set up an alias. Open your shell's initialization file (~/.bashrc if you're using bash) and add this line:

alias ns='/home/me/ns-allinone-2.35/bin/ns'

Bash aliases are evaluated before the $PATH is searched so this will make the ns command point to your locally installed version by default.