At 5:23 PM -0700 01/04/2006,
Jim Manley top-post and didn't bother to trim, so I fikked:
On Jan 4, 2006, at 5:19 PM, Douglas L. Miller wrote:
Would someone explain to an OS X neophyte what exactly permissions repair
is? Does it relate or is it similar to anything in OS 9?
The url Jim provided is a decent explination of the mechanics of the
Repair Permissions function in the Disk Utility. At the bottom of
the page is a link to an explination of Unix file permissions.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751
But sometimes it helps to see the problem from a higher level...
In OS 9, with File Sharing turned on, folders (and thereby the files
within them) had owners and permissions -- r/o, r/w, w/o, no access.
These were used to restrict which folders (and their files) could be
accessed over the network. Since file access was governed by the
folder's permissions, life was simple.
In OS X, you have the same thing, taken to a far greater extent. The
owners and permissions apply not only to the directories (folders),
but also to each and every individual file!
In theory... You put a file in a folder and the system should apply
to it a reasonable owner (you) and reasonable permissions, inherited
from the enclosing directory (folder).
The problem: Because Unix is such a hodge-podge mess, it's possible
to create files that avoid all or most of the inheritance process!
That means you may own the file, but the permissions on it may
completely lock you out from accessing it! Then applications that
require access to the file fail! oops.
If this occurs in your normal user directory, then you can fix it by
doing a Get Info from the Finder. But if it occurs in a directory
owned by the system, such as /Applications, then it's a little
harder. And if there are a lot of files involved - it's a pain to
fix! So Apple has provided the Repair Permissions function to
re-apply the permissions from known installations. It's not a 100%
fix to an access problem, but it helps.
Also, source for freeware, applejack? Tucows?
http://www.versiontracker.com/
http://www.macupdate.com/
HTH,
- Dan.
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