Leopard File Rights: Staff? Everyone?

[netdog]

I show three accounts in the system preferences (my main non-admin account, an admin account that I use to administer, and guest) but when I looked at the rights for a file today, I see myself with read/write and categories marked "staff" and "everyone" having read privileges. I don't want anyone else having access to my files, obviously, and am wondering what staff and everyone are all about. I don't have file sharing turned on.

 

[Cromulent]

I show three accounts in the system preferences (my main non-admin account, an admin account that I use to administer, and guest) but when I looked at the rights for a file today, I see myself with read/write and categories marked "staff" and "everyone" having read privileges. I don't want anyone else having access to my files, obviously, and am wondering what staff and everyone are all about. I don't have file sharing turned on.

It is the standard Unix file permission system. User, group and everyone.

 

[netdog]

So who falls into staff and who falls into everyone?

And this means that they can read all my files?

 

[wexford]

i am also wondering who "staff" is?

 

[rhyndu]

"Staff" is Mac OS X Leopard's way of reffering to the Unix user group "users". It basically means that all users on your computer have access to files that "Staff" are allowed to access, other then the guest account. This has been the same for Mac OS X since the Public Beta... they just renamed the User Groups.

I'm not sure why decided to introduce this into OS X Leopard... for non Unix-geeks it makes it more complicated.

It is fine for your needs if "Staff" is allowed access to your home folder. If you have a multi-user machine, however, with muliple people using it, you should probably make a folder in your home folder with all your "me personal stuff" in it, and set permissions to *yourusernamehere* as all and everyone else as NONE including staff.

Meh... I'd just use Terminal...