Permission repairing, Disk Util., fsck

macmath · 09-11-2002, 08:12 PM

I have always wondered about why the Permissions Repair utilities can always find something to repair. Well, today I had a lot of grading to do, so I tried an experiment. I started from the Jaguar CD and ran the Disk Utility repair. I then repaired permissions two times in a row. The second time there were far fewer items to repair, but there were some items repaired again. All were about ./usr/share/man/man3/DB.3 and ./usr/share/man/man3/db.3. I then restarted from the CD and repaired permissions again. Again, these same items mentioned above need repair (and were claimed to have been repaired).

I restarted and repaired the disk using the disk utility, and this time there were additional repairs. "Group differs on ., should be 80, group is 20. Owners and Group corrected on . Permissions repaired on ." It turned out that if the Disk Utility were not used to repair the disk first, then the Owners and Groups repairs to '.' were not necessary, but if the Disk Utility were used to repair the disk first, the repairs to '.' were necessary and carried out (I did one more trial apiece.). Every time, however, the repairs to ./usr/share/man/man3/DB.3 et al were necessary.

I remembered all the discussion of whether or not fsck and the Disk Utility did the same thing, so after the last permissions repairs, I restarted in single user mode and ran fsck -y, together with the additional stuff at the end to ensure that the changes (none were reported) were kept. Restarting with the Jaguar CD and repairing permissions still showed repairs to the permissions of ./usr/share/man/man3/DB.3 et al, but they did *not* show that permissions repairs to '.' were necessary.

Summary: I did not get all my grading done, but in the mean time, I think I noticed that (a) the permissions on an item or two cannot be repaired, (b) Disk Utility seems to change the Group for . from 80 to 20, and (c) fsck does not.

Sorry about the long-winded report. Especially since someone will be able to explain why this is all very natural. : ) I used to be quite good at OS Y, 6<=Y<=9, but I often find myself in over my head for Y>=10.

09-11-2002, 08:12 PM	#1
macmath MVP Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Elsewhere Posts: 1,497	Permission repairing, Disk Util., fsck I have always wondered about why the Permissions Repair utilities can always find something to repair. Well, today I had a lot of grading to do, so I tried an experiment. I started from the Jaguar CD and ran the Disk Utility repair. I then repaired permissions two times in a row. The second time there were far fewer items to repair, but there were some items repaired again. All were about ./usr/share/man/man3/DB.3 and ./usr/share/man/man3/db.3. I then restarted from the CD and repaired permissions again. Again, these same items mentioned above need repair (and were claimed to have been repaired). I restarted and repaired the disk using the disk utility, and this time there were additional repairs. "Group differs on ., should be 80, group is 20. Owners and Group corrected on . Permissions repaired on ." It turned out that if the Disk Utility were not used to repair the disk first, then the Owners and Groups repairs to '.' were not necessary, but if the Disk Utility were used to repair the disk first, the repairs to '.' were necessary and carried out (I did one more trial apiece.). Every time, however, the repairs to ./usr/share/man/man3/DB.3 et al were necessary. I remembered all the discussion of whether or not fsck and the Disk Utility did the same thing, so after the last permissions repairs, I restarted in single user mode and ran fsck -y, together with the additional stuff at the end to ensure that the changes (none were reported) were kept. Restarting with the Jaguar CD and repairing permissions still showed repairs to the permissions of ./usr/share/man/man3/DB.3 et al, but they did not show that permissions repairs to '.' were necessary. Summary: I did not get all my grading done, but in the mean time, I think I noticed that (a) the permissions on an item or two cannot be repaired, (b) Disk Utility seems to change the Group for . from 80 to 20, and (c) fsck does not. Sorry about the long-winded report. Especially since someone will be able to explain why this is all very natural. : ) I used to be quite good at OS Y, 6<=Y<=9, but I often find myself in over my head for Y>=10.