sorry i dont understand... ok so i must write /bin/chmod -(minus)Rf a+x /applications/*(without minus) and it will work?because i tried and it doesnt.just tell me what YOU wrote.
Ok, lets run through the command...understanding it will make it easier to trouble shoot.
the first part is the command itself:
/bin/chmod
where / is the root directory, the starting point of the filesystem, like c:\ in Windows.
bin is the first directory, like c:\bin
/ is just a directory identifier, like \ in Windows
chmod is the actual program to run, so in Windows this would be like c:\bin\chmod.exe (it doesnt exist...well it does in Cygwin, but thats another story)
so the first part says lets run the chmod program that sits in the bin directory
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then rest of the line are parameters, or arguments i.e. what objects to manipulate and how to manipulate them
In unix arguments are often (not always) preceded with a minus (in Windows this is typically a /)
so the -Rf is two arguments, R = recursive, meaning do every subdirectory and file within, f = force, or dont prompt for every change
the next part is telling the command to give all users the right to execute the program or file, a+x means all users + (add) x (execute)
the last part is the object itself, or the file or folder, in this case, the /Applications folder, which is like c:\applications in Windows
you can specify /Applications for the folder itself, or /Applications/* for all files in the /Applications folder, or /Applications/myfile.txt for just the myfile.txt file in the /Applications folder.
So to recap:
/bin/chmod -Rf a+x /Applications/*
Says: Hey you, chmod sitting in the /bin directory, walk the tree recursively and dont prompt for any confirmations, and while you're at it, give all users the right to execute all files and folders in the /Applications folder.
Make sense?
Unix really is a far more elegant OS
