There is a common misconception here. Sorry for the delay in this.
The Disk Utility Repair Disk Permissions process has nothing to do with
a user's files. Nothing to do with the files for which you, the user,
control access to your files via the Get Info.
But Repair Disk Permissions has all to do with software on the Mac. It
has all to do with the operating system, the updates from Apple, the
applications from Apple, and third party applications. The main
benefit from repairing disk permissions is to straighten out the damage
that can occur through installation of some third party applications.
This has to do with UNIX keeping track of the existence and whereabouts
of software files and folder, not the user's files and folders.
On Jan 5, 2006, at 8:38 AM, iMac List wrote:
Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 01:27:07 -0500
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Permissions repair?
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.
Al Poulin
Anger, hate, and revenge are for the devil, forgiveness is for God,
proactive self-defense is for the rest of us.
--
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