Making Files Accessible from the Console

In /etc/security/console.perms, there is a section with lines like:

floppy =/dev/fd[0-1]* /dev/floppy/* sound =/dev/dsp* /dev/audio* /dev/midi* /dev/mixer* /dev/sequencer \ /dev/sound/* cdrom =/dev/cdrom* /dev/cdwriter*

You can add your own lines to this section, if necessary. Make sure that any lines you add refer to the appropriate device. For example, you could add the following line:

scanner =/dev/scanner

(Of course, make sure that /dev/scanner is really your scanner and not, say, your hard drive.) That’s the first step. The second step is to define what is done with those files. Look in the last section of /etc/security/console.perms for lines similar to:

console    0660 floppy  0660 root.floppy console    0600 sound   0640 root console    0600 cdrom   0600 root.disk

and add a line like:

console    0600 scanner 0600 root

Then, when you log in at the console, you will be given ownership of the /dev/scanner device, and the permissions will be 0600 (readable and writable by you only). When you log out, the device will be owned by root and still have 0600 (readable and writable by root only) permissions.