New files have wrong owner and permissions

[graeyohe]

Hello... first post on this forum. Really in a bind here, so I hope someone has some thoughts on this one!

After a snafu using disk utility to repair file permissions, I now have this issue wherein new files I create do not show up as owned by me. Instead, they are owned by system. Without modification of some settings, I cannot modify these files at all... which is just a TAD of an inconvenience when trying to do any work at all.

Here's how the permissions show up:

system: read & write
wheel: read only
everyone: read only

When they SHOULD be:

(Me): read & write
staff: read only
everyone: read only

I can modify and save one of these newly-created problematic files only if I do the following in the "Get Info" box:

1. Add myself as a user with permissions on the file,
2. Set those permissions to read & write, and
3. Change the ownership of the file (via that little gear icon at the very bottom) to me.

If I don't do all of that, it won't let me save it. If I do it all, it will.

But here's where it gets strange again: As soon as I've saved the modified file, those permissions revert. So even though I still have the file open and have JUST saved it, I cannot modify it and save it again. If I try, it tells me I don't have permissions. And if I look at the permissions again, they've reverted and I am no longer even a user on the file. So they're locked somehow, and changes don't "take."

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

[r0k]

create a test user account. Log in as the test user. See if the problem exists for the test user account. I doubt it would. Get Onyx. Go to verify and pick permissions. Hopefully you will uncover some corrupted plist files and delete them and your problem will be partially solved. You will probably have to repair disk permissions again after deleting the corrupted plist files.

 

[graeyohe]

create a test user account. Log in as the test user. See if the problem exists for the test user account. I doubt it would. Get Onyx. Go to verify and pick permissions. Hopefully you will uncover some corrupted plist files and delete them and your problem will be partially solved. You will probably have to repair disk permissions again after deleting the corrupted plist files.

Thanks for the reply. It looks like the problem still exists for a new test user, exactly in the same way. New files are owned by "system" my current user (my own or the test user) has read-only permissions by default.

I'm downloading OnyX anyway to see what I can find from that. Thanks!

 

[graeyohe]

And, OnyX doesn't work at all on my machine.

On open, I get:

Applescript Error
<<script>> doesn't understand the <<event earsffdr>> message (-1708)

and when I click OK on that, I get

Applescript Error
The variable Prefs is not defined. (-2753)

Once in the app, if I try to open a panel, I get

Applescript Error
The variable currentView is not defined. (-2753)

 

[r0k]

A call to Apple would be appropriate at this time. One of their early diagnosis techniques is to create a test user and see if the problem goes away. Since your test user has the same problem this situation seems headed for an archive and install. At this point, I would take advantage of the ability to read all those files and back them up to a usb hard drive. Next I would reinstall OS X. This isn't as bad as it sounds. It can be done unattended. An archive and install might just bring over the corrupt files that are causing this issue so I would lean toward an erase and install after backing up all the stuff you care about.

But step one would be to contact AppleCare and ask them about this or at least search the support forums over at Apple.

 

[graeyohe]

I'll make that call. But honestly, there is no problem with existing files. It's only newly-created files that cause me trouble. Seems like there is a default somewhere that says "new files should have this ownership and permissions" and if I could change that, I'd be set.