Repair Disk Permissions

[MrMinor]

I have just had my MBP for a few days now so this is all still very new to me.

What does repair disk permissions do? Can I hurt anything by running it?

 

[acxz]

Repairing permissions won't damage your Mac, it just takes a long time and makes it less usable while it's working. It can be used to fix some problems but some people (incorrectly) believe it's the answer to everything in the Mac world. If you're not having any problems, you don't need to repair permissions.

 

[MrMinor]

I first heard about it in a thread that talked about missing clicks. Would it help something like that? What does and doesn't it help?

 

[vandozza]

as files/apps etc are installed, or created on your Mac, they are issued with a set of UNIX permissions (read, write, execute, owner, group, other.)

at times, the file permissions may not be set correctly (often after a large software update, or installing large applications, built from many individual files.)

running repair permissions checks the file's permissions, against an install/package receipt to determine if the permissions are set correctly.

most of the time this is not a big issue. some people swear it helps, others will tell you that it's not necessary.

my explination is probably not 100% correct, but it's probably good enough to give you a basic understanding of what repair permissions actually does. (and no, it's unlikely to do any harm!)

more info here - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963

 

[richard.mac]

Many things you install in Mac OS X are installed from package files (whose filename extension is ".pkg"). Each time something is installed from a package file, a "Bill of Materials" file (whose filename extension is ".bom") is stored in the package's receipt file, which is kept in /Library/Receipts/ …

Each of those ".bom" files contains a list of the files installed by that package, and the proper permissions for each file.

When you use Disk Utility to verify or repair disk permissions, it reviews each of the .bom files in /Library/Receipts/ and compares its list to the actual permissions on each file listed. If the permissions differ, Disk Utility reports the difference (and corrects them if you use the Repair feature).

from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1452?viewlocale=en_US.

 

[MrMinor]

So it does not sound like it will fix missing clicks right?

 

[vandozza]

what do you mean by "missing clicks"?

 

[MrMinor]

what do you mean by "missing clicks"?

I click and it does not respond. This happens often when I am in firefox and want to right click on a link I have saved on my toolbar. It happens at other random times too though.