- #Mac disk utility repair permissions how to#
- #Mac disk utility repair permissions mac os x#
- #Mac disk utility repair permissions install#
- #Mac disk utility repair permissions software#
You can also create a “Fusion Drive” (combined logical volume using an SSD and hard drive) using the Terminal command-line Disk Utility. Next time there’s an iTunes or Safari update, run ‘Repair Disk Permissions’ and see the mess to clean up. Group differs on “Library/Preferences/” should be 80 group is 0. Permissions differ on “Library/Printers/ist” should be -rw-rw-rw- they are -rw-r–r–. Group differs on “Library/Printers/ist” should be 80 group is 0. Repaired “System/Library/CoreServices/Feedback Assistant.app” Permissions differ on “System/Library/CoreServices/Feedback Assistant.app” should be drwxr-xr-x they are lrwxr-xr-x. Repaired “Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/Safari.help/Contents/Resources/index.html”
Permissions differ on “Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/Safari.help/Contents/Resources/index.html” should be lrwxr-xr-x they are -rwxr-xr-x. (Skipping over the usual ‘ACL found but not expected’ crap): I bet I can run ‘Repair Disk Permissions’ right now and find a bunch of broken Apple permissions.
Recently, Apple has made a mess of iTunes and Safari permissions. This happens with applications from the likes of Adobe as well as Apple! Adobe used to be the #1 culprit but have since cleaned up their act.Īpple has been particularly lazy about this, depending upon the application.
#Mac disk utility repair permissions software#
)īottom line: If you are not experiencing problems with a specific piece of software listed in the receipts folder, there’s no reason to run Repair Permissions.Ī better question is why software installed with a BOM file (Bill of Materials) can’t be bothered to properly set its permissions when it’s installed. I wish more people understood this – we probably wouldn’t see so many Mac users running Repair Permissions at the drop of the hat or on a regular schedule as we see so often. Once you understand how it works, you see Repair Permissions is not half as useful or magical as a lot of people seem to believe. This typically manifests itself in Disk Utility’s Repair Permissions log as a file/folder that never seems to be actually repaired, flipping back and forth between two states. If there are multiple receipts that list a given file or folder, and the expected ownership and permissions differ between those two receipts, Repair Permissions will encounter the first receipt, change the ownership and permissions to honor that receipt, then encounter the second receipt and change the ownership and permissions to honor the second receipt. This actually happens fairly frequently, particularly when more than one software package installs and uses a shared library or other system resource that happens to be used by another software package.
#Mac disk utility repair permissions how to#
The Repair Permissions tool has a rather serious design flaw: it does not know how to resolve cases where multiple receipts list the same file or folder with differing ownership and permissions. This means the files in your home folder and the files in the local domain (/Library for instance) are *not* examined. Repair Permissions examines only those files listed by these receipts.
#Mac disk utility repair permissions install#
Receipts typically contain a “Bill of Materials” file that lists of each important file and folder in the installed software package, along with the expected ownership and permissions those files and folders, according to the install package.
#Mac disk utility repair permissions mac os x#
Receipts are typically created by software installers that use the Mac OS X built-in /Applications/Utilities/Installer program to install a software package, though they may be placed into the receipts folder by other means as well. Repair Permissions reads the contents of each receipt in the receipts folder to find out which files and folders it should examine. This receipts folder is located at /Library/Receipts in Mac OS X versions prior to 10.6, and was moved to /private/var/db/receipts starting with version 10.6. It’s a very simple tool that is meant to reset the states of ownership and permissions of *specific sets of files*, and *only* those files listed in the receipts of specific software in the receipts folder. Disk Utility’s Repair Permissions function isn’t as magical a tool as a lot of people seem to assume.