Repair permissions not doing anything

Gordon

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that whenever I repair the permissions it doesn't end up repairing anything? It checks the system but never needs to make any changes. Compare this Macbook (10.4.9) to my slightly older iMac and it's completely different. The iMac repairs the exact same permissions even if you repair straight after your original repair.

Just curious, it's no biggie, I know some people are dead against using this method as a maintenance tool even though Apple recommend it.

440Hz

I think its a good idea to include a perm repair in your maintenance workflow. Alot of that depends on who uses the machine and what you do with it, I find.
I would find the same as you, on my home machine the perms rarely require any repairs but on my work machine there is always something that needs modding. Most Unix heads would advise this to be good practice, not really sure why people would be dead against it really.

babypink

its a good thing that its not finding anything, but as KT points out it can vary with how many users are on the machine.

I would also include this in my regular service of my machine!

Gordon

Don't get me wrong, I know it's a good sign if the repair permissions doesn't find anything to sort out, but this happens all the time and I've installed a number of programs since getting this Mac. I'm just wondering if maybe the repair isn't actually doing anything, does this happen?

I'm certainly happy that it doesn't find anything but you can never trust something that always tells you 'everything's fine' all the time - something bad has to happen every once in a while!

440Hz

Gordon wrote:

. I'm just wondering if maybe the repair isn't actually doing anything, does this happen?

From Apple wrote:

If you have modified the contents of the folder /Library/Receipts, the Repair Permissions feature won't work as expected. Repairing permissions requires receipts for Apple-installed software. Additionally, the utilities only repair Apple-installed software and folders (which does not include users' home folders).

Something like that maybe?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106712

eoineen

A thought just struck me: I have two users on the iMac C2D 2006 at home. Do both users need to repair permissions regularly or do I as admin login (I know I know) doing it regularly suffice?

cornbb

If you have modified the contents of the folder /Library/Receipts, the Repair Permissions feature won't work as expected. Repairing permissions requires receipts for Apple-installed software. Additionally, the utilities only repair Apple-installed software and folders (which does not include users' home folders).

Hmm, that could be a problem. I've tinkered with that directory quite a bit while testing some installers I was developing :-/ But from what I can tell, it would only be a problem if receipts for apps were removed...

Gordon: AFAIK permissions usually become broken as a result of poor implentation of software products, their components or their installers. Could also indicate buggy OS updates. Therefore a lack of repaired permissions would appear to be a lack of poorly designed software on your system. Not a bad thing at all!

eoineen wrote:

A thought just struck me: I have two users on the iMac C2D 2006 at home. Do both users need to repair permissions regularly or do I as admin login (I know I know) doing it regularly suffice?

The page at 440's linky above says:

Additionally, the utilities only repair Apple-installed software and folders (which does not include users' home folders).

so it appears having your users repair permissions would be of no benefit (again someone correct me if I'm wrong)

440Hz

cornbb wrote:

Hmm, that could be a problem. I've tinkered with that directory quite a bit while testing some installers I was developing :-/ But from what I can tell, it would only be a problem if receipts for apps were removed...

Remember the day 'we' cough brought your Mac back to life? Dumping receipts and plists is perfectly ok, as long as you don't empty the trash with them in it (until the system reinitialises them that is). In most cases anyway. Adding them to the trash without dumping them will force the system to reinitialize the trashed element if it requires it. Like we did with Finder that day. Same applies to receipts. Its dumping them from the trash that causes hassle, so yeah spot on sir!

Gordon

cornbb wrote:

Gordon: AFAIK permissions usually become broken as a result of poor implentation of software products, their components or their installers. Could also indicate buggy OS updates. Therefore a lack of repaired permissions would appear to be a lack of poorly designed software on your system. Not a bad thing at all!

I hope you're right!

Thanks for the info guys, some stuff I didn't know there about temp-dumping the receipts and plists from 440. Thanks again.

440Hz

Most welcome Gordon, glad we could share some info.

Actually though, for anyone reading my post above who doesnt quite know what they are doing, be careful with trashing plists etc, like I said they will be reinitialised if they are system specific but take care to note that you know what app/util they apply to. I will explain this in a proper thread after the weekend maybe, its a handy thing to know for new users, how to handle plists and receipts properly. So dont go randomly dumping anything just yet, unless you are clued in to what you are trashing

Gordon

Oops I just did all of them . Nice one 440.

440Hz

lol uh0h!