Issue with paths and enviroments in SCO 5.0.6

[jborissr]

I built a SCO 5.0.6 VM from original install cds. The legacy server is still running (on life support). The custom program uses troff to print postscript files. The problem I encounter is when a regular user (non root) tries t print a file the following error appears:

.troff: fatal error: can't find macro file m

No file prints as troff dies because it can't locate tmac.m

So if I login as root and su to the normal user the file prints just fine. At first thought one would think permissions are screwed up but tmac.m lives in /usr/lib/tmac. The permissions on this directory are:
# l -d /usr/lib/tmac
drwxrwxrwx 2 root sys 512 Jun 28 11:05 /usr/lib/tmac
and the macro files are
# l
total 22
-r--r--r-- 1 root sys 43 Jun 28 11:05 tmac.an
-r--r--r-- 1 root sys 5647 Jun 28 11:05 tmac.eroff
-r--r--r-- 1 root sys 79 Jun 28 11:05 tmac.m
-r--r--r-- 1 root sys 55 Jun 28 11:05 tmac.pic
-r--r--r-- 1 root sys 45 Jun 28 11:05 tmac.ptx
-r--r--r-- 1 root sys 44 Jun 28 11:05 tmac.v

As the normal user I did a find / -name tmac.m and it found the file. There were a load of permission denied errors but I checked on the legacy server and the same holds true on there.

I compared the paths between root and the normal user and roots path is

/bin:/etc:/usr/bin:/tcb/bin
while the normal users $PATH is:

/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/lbin:/u/JEN-A-SyS/utilities:/usr/java/bin:

Any pointers would be appreciated.

[Perryg]

How do guest OS permissions have anything to do with VirtualBox?

[michaln]

Incidentally, SCO is a company, not an OS. SCO made several different operating systems. You are probably talking about OpenServer 5.0.6.

At any rate, I concur with Perry... you probably need help from an OpenServer expert, this doesn't sound like a virtualization issue. You may get some clue if you run troff under truss/strace/whatever the equivalent is. Or do a more in-depth comparison between the working and non-working install (permissions, environment, patch level, file versions, etc.).

[jborissr]

Sorry it is SCO Openserver 5.0.6.

As to Virtual Box I am wondering if anyone on the forum ran into this when they built a vm of SCO 5.0.6.

Who knows what things may go one when a VM is made. Early versions of VirtualBox would not handle SCO Opensserver 5.0.6 easily. And even the latest version will not handle the Graphical environment install.

[michaln]

It's true that SCO OpenServer is not an officially supported guest in VirtualBox. That said, the troff problem really doesn't sound like it would be virtualization related, more likely something to do with the way the OS is set up. Unfortunately you probably won't find a lot of OpenServer expertise around here.