Personal Folder Privileges on MAC ---

proindigo · 06-25-2012, 01:31 AM

I have just started using MAC and as such facing some difficulty finding my way around. Have been using Windows all my life. I am going to describe one of the problems I am facing.

There's a Personal folder in my home directory. Now when I select Get Info and navigate to the Sharing and Permissions sections, II see a little padlock [locked]
at the far bottom right corner. I click on it, give the username and password, give the read/write permissions for the current user and select 'Apply to Enclosed Items' from the wheel icon and close the window. After that when I again open the Get Info dialog the padlock is locked as it was before I unlocked it with my credentials. Why is this happening? What am I missing here? What does this mean?

I am using the administrator account. But from the Account tab on the System Preferences I found out there are two Admin accounts configured for this machine. Is it happening because of this? I am trying to create a directory inside Personal and write a file to it programmatically at run time[I am trying to develop an iPhone App] but I am being denied the permission to do so. Please help me out friends as I am stuck with this issue.

Thanks in anticipation.

kirkmc · 06-25-2012, 02:54 AM

It will be locked each time you access the Info window. I guess this is a security feature, but it can be an annoyance as well.

fracai · 06-25-2012, 08:43 AM

Why do you need to access the Sharing and Permission section so often? This should be the sort of thing that you set once (if even necessary in the first place) and forget about.

What's you're goal here? There's probably a better way to solve it.

--EDIT--

Oh, the programmatic file writing bit? You should be able to modify ownership and permissions programmatically as well. Still, once you set the permissions for that "Personal" folder once, they shouldn't be reverting later. Set them permissive enough that your program can write into the folder. The program should then be able to set the correct permissions on the files that it writes from that point forward.

More details might help as well.

What permissions does the program need?
What permissions did the "Personal" folder originally have? What did you change them to?
What permissions does the program create files as? What do you need them to be?

What do file permissions have to do with iPhone development?

benwiggy · 06-25-2012, 08:51 AM

Stuff in your home directory should normally "belong" to you, and should not need any adjustment or setting of privileges. Apps you run are normally run as the user, and have access to your account.

How was this folder created? Where did it come from?

The Finder's controls are pretty basic. If you are a developer, you should consider using the Terminal to assess the privileges, ownership and ACLs on the folder.

It's possible it's a sandbox issue, with the iPhone app not being given permission to write files?

06-25-2012, 01:31 AM	#1
proindigo Registered User Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 1	Personal Folder Privileges on MAC --- I have just started using MAC and as such facing some difficulty finding my way around. Have been using Windows all my life. I am going to describe one of the problems I am facing. There's a Personal folder in my home directory. Now when I select Get Info and navigate to the Sharing and Permissions sections, II see a little padlock [locked] at the far bottom right corner. I click on it, give the username and password, give the read/write permissions for the current user and select 'Apply to Enclosed Items' from the wheel icon and close the window. After that when I again open the Get Info dialog the padlock is locked as it was before I unlocked it with my credentials. Why is this happening? What am I missing here? What does this mean? I am using the administrator account. But from the Account tab on the System Preferences I found out there are two Admin accounts configured for this machine. Is it happening because of this? I am trying to create a directory inside Personal and write a file to it programmatically at run time[I am trying to develop an iPhone App] but I am being denied the permission to do so. Please help me out friends as I am stuck with this issue. Thanks in anticipation.

06-25-2012, 02:54 AM	#2
kirkmc Site Admin Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 20	It will be locked each time you access the Info window. I guess this is a security feature, but it can be an annoyance as well. __________________ Kirk Mac OS X Hints editor http://www.mcelhearn.com

06-25-2012, 08:43 AM	#3
fracai MVP Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,012	Why do you need to access the Sharing and Permission section so often? This should be the sort of thing that you set once (if even necessary in the first place) and forget about. What's you're goal here? There's probably a better way to solve it. --EDIT-- Oh, the programmatic file writing bit? You should be able to modify ownership and permissions programmatically as well. Still, once you set the permissions for that "Personal" folder once, they shouldn't be reverting later. Set them permissive enough that your program can write into the folder. The program should then be able to set the correct permissions on the files that it writes from that point forward. More details might help as well. What permissions does the program need? What permissions did the "Personal" folder originally have? What did you change them to? What permissions does the program create files as? What do you need them to be? What do file permissions have to do with iPhone development? Last edited by fracai; 06-25-2012 at 08:47 AM.
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06-25-2012, 08:51 AM	#4
benwiggy League Commissioner Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 5,040	Stuff in your home directory should normally "belong" to you, and should not need any adjustment or setting of privileges. Apps you run are normally run as the user, and have access to your account. How was this folder created? Where did it come from? The Finder's controls are pretty basic. If you are a developer, you should consider using the Terminal to assess the privileges, ownership and ACLs on the folder. It's possible it's a sandbox issue, with the iPhone app not being given permission to write files?