hi i'm very new in this and i don't understand this message i get whenever i type in a few particular commands. how do i overcome it?

The error message you typed as the subject of this thread is what you see when you type sudo as root.

See, to become root on the N900, typically you install the root package and type "sudo gainroot" from the terminal. Now you're root and you can do anything you want.

What you can't do is type sudo again since you're already root it makes no sense to type this again.

The actual error message is telling you that the root user is not in the sudoers file so the command failed. This is because the sudoers file lists a bunch of user names that are allowed to type sudo to become root. Root is not in this file because root will never need to type sudo to be come root. Root is already root.

Got it?

okay, so it's like i want to go in root twice? which isn't right? after typing "sudo gainroot", my following commands must not include sudo in front?

Yes, and remember, use root access only when it is really needed.

yeah cause root is root access to the device right? meaning i have main access to important files in the phone? but i don't get some instructions i read. why would they ask me to have root access and then ask me to type "sudo" in front of the following command? that would be like going in root twice right?

Yes, if you see # at the left of the command you typed (instead of $), then you are already root and don't need to type sudo.

But what are you trying to do exactly?

i'm trying to install Archlinux. i have downloaded the scripts (made by Juandp77) and placed it in /home/user. i placed the image in MyDocs. this is the following commands after being in root:

cd /home/user/archlinux
sudo chmod +x /home/user/archlinux/archlinux
sudo chmod +x /home/user/archlinux/chrootarch
sudo chmod +x /home/user/archlinux/startarch
./chrootarch

okay i typed "sudo gainroot", and then proceeded with the commands. after typing all 3 chmod commands (without sudo), it now says "user is not in sudoers file" after typing the "./chrootarch" command. am i doing something wrong, is there something that i didn't do?

oh thanks for asking Ayle.

try this

thanks one1002 for the commands, but i got "user is not in sudoers file" after typing the "./chrootarch" command.

btw, do you guys know what is a Desktop Base System?