chmod -R 777 / on ubuntu - numerous problems

Solution 1:

I would actually consider doing a full reinstall of the system. Even if you manage to get most permissions right and that things seem to work there will most likely be some special permissions laying around, just waiting to cause trouble.

Alternatively I'd compare the permission with a second, possibly freshly installed, machine. Shouldn't be to hard together with your favorite scripting language.

Solution 2:

Wow...it happened to me once too...luckily was a home machine. I solved forcing a reinstall of all packages, so that all permission was set back. It was on debian anyway. I use apt-get install --reinstall $packages in a script that got all packages list. What the syslog or auth say when you try su?

Pier