config file readonly

[Gavin Chester]

I keep getting an error report "error: Configuration is in readonly
mode" when trying to install packages on openSUSE 10.1 using smart (as
superuser):  

---------------
susey:~ # smart config --set keyserver=pgp.mit.edu
error: Configuration is in readonly mode.
--------------

At first I thought this was a problem with the keyserver, or my access
to it, and found these links by googling:

<http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-linux-help/67970-smart-keyserver.html> 
<http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-linux-help/68055-smart.html>
<http://www.mail-archive.com/opensuse@opensuse.org/msg12157.html>

Those claim to have solved the problem, especially as one was a simple
syntax error.  However, I continue to be plagued by this problem for
some time now.  I realised that perhaps it _was_ a permissions thing
rather than syntax, so I ran this other command to test whether I could
write to the config file:
---------------
susey:~ # smart config --set remove-packages=false
error: Configuration is in readonly mode.
--------------

Different command - same result!  And, that command was copied and
pasted straight from the smart FAQ page :-/.  So, that proves it is
permissions thing, as far as I can see.  Therefore, I tried setting the
permissions to 664 for these files:

chmod 664 /var/lib/smart/config.old
chmod 664 /var/lib/smart/config

... but it made no difference.  Please direct me to solving this
"readonly" problem :-)

Gavin