Re: Repairing permissions options?

In article <noemail-2F2E21.15040622052006@shawnews>,
aaJoe <noemail@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So is the consensus that Repair Permissions has no point at all? This
is amazing since most Mac users recommend it so often. Even
www.macosx.com does and they're supposed to be quite experienced. Or is
it only useful when and only when its used in conjunction with other
vital repair/maintenance apps?

Yes permissions repair is useful. If the problem involves permissions.
It is indeed treated like Desktop Rebuild or PRAM zap, ie. A cure all.
It is something that, in most cases, won't hurt to try it.

The most common problem that permissions repair fixes is the results of
poorly written installers. Some developers seem to have no clue about
permissions.

I have encountered several problems which on the surface didn't seem
like they would be a permissions issue but that a repair did fix.
Correct permissions are critical in OS X and incorrect permissions can
foul programs in the oddest way. One reason I believe is that a lot of
programs don't do adequate error handling, often they just ignore
problems if they can. So if a program can't read or write a file
because of incorrect permissions they will just ignore it. This applies
to things like plug-ins, sounds, help files, any thing that is part of a
program (Built in or an external add on file) but not absolutely
essential.

Personally I've long felt that the restart that is inherent in Desktop
Rebuild or PRAM zap was usually the fix. But since people did a Desktop
Rebuild or PRAM zap they attributed the fix to that action instead of
the restart.


"Repairing permissions" is often thrown out there as a magic fix for any
kind of trouble one may have on their Mac. I've even heard people
recommending it for things like strange mouse behaviour. Permissions
rarely
get messed up to the point that they need repairing.




But repairing permissions IS useful for certain things. Somebody posted
in this NG recently that CD-Rs would mount on his Mac in admin accounts
but not in non-admin accounts. That sounded like a permissions issue, so
I suggested that he repair permissions. It worked.

True, problems that disappear when done in an admin account are often
permissions problems. But Disk Utility's Permission Repair won't always
fix them.

I run the permission repair after running any software installer.
Software installers are notorious for messing them up and in some cases
can open up big security holes. I had one software installer recently
change the permissions on /Applications and /Library to make them
writable by non-administrators. Bad, bad, bad developer. Running the
permission repair fixed it.

Is there a short Terminal program or keyboard shortcut for repairing
permissions? Or do I have to use the Disk Utility. I'm going to be
setting up a new system soon and will want to run it frequently as
things get moved around.

sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

See the man page for details.


So running the permission repair is not nonsense. But what IS nonsense
is the myriad of problems that people think will be fixed by running it.
Running it will not harm anything, it will just take a few seconds of
your time.

I disagree with the previous poster who claimed that running the
permission repair as a regular maintenance task is akin to taking
antibiotics when one is not sick. That's nonsense. Taking antibiotics
when not sick is a bad, bad idea and it can harm you. Repairing
permissions will not harm anything. All it is is a waste of time if it
doesn't fix anything.


I agree with that except that in a few rare cases running Permissions
Repair may indeed cause a problem but that is really a problem with the
Receipts file. It's fixing things the way it was told to but those
instructions may be wrong.

--
Clark Martin
Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting

"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Security Update 2006-003: What a disaster?
    ... Has anyone else had trouble with Security Update 2006-003 on their *Intel* ... Repair your hard drive. ... Boot off your Mac OS X installation CD/DVD and run Disk Utility ... permissions, but it segregates bad permission files, dumps your cache ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Word wouldnt fully open
    ... suggest trying Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions first (as well as ... file damage that needs repair. ... I'm less than a believer of the utility of repair permissions. ... be overlooked regardless of whether the OP did the update... ...
    (microsoft.public.mac.office.word)
  • Re: Word printing problems...
    ... You might first run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions & see ... with printing are seldom the fault of the application. ... Print services are actually provided by the OS & the print driver. ... repairing permissions first - especially if this in an HP printer. ...
    (microsoft.public.mac.office.word)
  • Re: Repairing permissions options?
    ... is amazing since most Mac users recommend it so often. ... "Repairing permissions" is often thrown out there as a magic fix for any ... I run the permission repair after running any software installer. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: Leopard Repairing Permissions?
    ... repair permissions from the Install DVD, ... "Should I start up from a Mac OS X install disc to repair disk ... disk permissions should be repaired while started up ... from a Mac OS X volume that contains updated Mac OS X ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)