at (at-3.1.18-2ubuntu1) doesn't seem to be working correctly

[Tommy McGuire]

The at.allow man page says,

> If /etc/at.allow does not exist, /etc/at.deny is checked, every username not mentioned in it is then allowed to use at.

/etc/at.allow does not exist, and my username is not listed in at.deny

    $ ls -l /etc/at.*
    -rw-r----- 1 root bin 144 May 16 2011 /etc/at.deny
    $ sudo grep mcguire /etc/at.deny
    $

However, at is reporting that I do not have permission:

    $ at teatime tomorrow
    You do not have permission to use at.

If I add /etc/at.allow with my username in it, I get a permission denied error creating the job file:

    $ ls -l /etc/at.*
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 May 22 12:33 /etc/at.allow
    -rw-r----- 1 root bin 144 May 16 2011 /etc/at.deny
    $ sudo grep mcguire /etc/at.*
    /etc/at.allow:mcguire
    $ at teatime tomorrow
    warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
    Cannot create atjob file /var/spool/cron/atjobs/a00007017452ec: Permission denied

This is with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

The package is at 3.1.18-2ubuntu1 (Launchpad does not allow me to enter 'at' as a package search.)

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1584501/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

This works for me - I have not /etc/at.allow file and running the command from the description did something.

 $ at teatime tomorrow
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
at> <EOT>
job 1 at Tue May 24 16:00:00 2016

[Tommy McGuire (mcguire)]

On 05/23/2016 10:44 AM, Brian Murray wrote:
> This works for me - I have not /etc/at.allow file and running the
> command from the description did something.
>
> $ at teatime tomorrow
> warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
> at> <EOT>
> job 1 at Tue May 24 16:00:00 2016

What are the ownership/permissions on /etc/at.deny and
/var/spool/cron/atjobs?

This machine is several years old and was recently upgraded from the
previous LTS release (14.10?).

Thanks for your help!

--
Tommy M. McGuire
<email address hidden>