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Repair Permissions On El Capitan
- Thread starter GGERARD
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Apple has removed the repair permissions functionality because you can no longer modify the files that it used to repair. It's called "System Integrity Protection" and is a new feature coming in 10.11.
Here is a quote from the release notes. It updates permissions during software updates. So if by some slim chance you do mess any up or some get changed, it does it automatically behind he scenes. Though it's not likely you will with the new system in place.
- System file permissions are automatically protected, and updated during Software Updates. The Repair Permissions function is no longer necessary.
Onyx? The El Capitan version says it is repairing permissions. I ran it earlier today and it certainly acted as if it did.
The log is quite large.
True.
Onyx permits to repair permissions. Quite strange ....
PS: just made a test.
I run Onyx, start maintenance (a lot of permissions were repaired), start maintenance again and this time no permission need to be repaired.
So it is actually working.
For some reasons Apple decided that users don't have to repair permissions when they want to, leaving that activity to system updates.
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Just don't, why even bother? Where does this obsession come from to 'fix' things that don't even need to be fixed?
Permissions are there for a reason.
If they are broken, "things" aren't working as supposed.
If they are truly broken and not just different. File permissions control which users or which user groups have permissions over the file or folder in question. Such permissions are only a problem when the process that is meant to be accessing the file or folder can no longer do with it what it is meant to do.
Which brings us back to the obsession of checking things just for the sake of it. Honestly, the more I learn about OS X, the less of a need I have for these 'maintenance' tools. If your permissions are actually broken, then you either installed something that might have broken something else too (in which case it would not be prudent to leave it at that) or messed with the permissions yourself. In such a case a quick system reinstall from recovery (which repairs just the base system) is likely the better option.
I'm not checking my computer daily, but since it is somewhat "mission critical" to me, Im checking it once a month, performing a check of permissions and maintenance scripts (if not automatically done).
Onyx allows that quite easily.
Onyx also suggests that you clear actual system caches, which is a potentially disruptive thing to do. In my book, Onyx isn't much better than faux tools like MacKeeper, even though Onyx does offer a GUI for targeted repair actions in case of an actual problem. You are perfectly entitled to use it, but please, don't recommend it to other people. It's not necessary and just creates this urge to perform 'maintenance' that no one really needs.
I believe what changed is now with El Capitan the system permissions are protected so they can't get broken to begin with.
Even before El Capitan, a Disk Util permissions pair was not doing what many thought it was. All it did is verify and set permissions for files that have a corresponding receipt in the folder /var/db/receipts.
If you use command line the functionality is there - all of the disk utility commands I am aware of are still available. I have no idea whether or not 'permissions are automatically fixed' in El Capitan, but it might break SIP? Just speculation so take what I say with a grain of salt I have no idea how SIP works.
Yes. It just takes 10–15 minutes (at least on my 2008 MacBook). Not a complete install, just a reinstall of the base system, through recovery. All your user files are left untouched. If you have reason to believe that your permissions are screwed up, you will likely also have a reason to suspect that the actual files were tampered with too, if you didn't modify permissions yourself. I don't see what a permissions repair will solve.
onyx doesn't suggest anything. The tools are available if you want or need to use them.
Totally different from crapware like MacKeeper.
My little test proved it's not like that.
Permissions were broken even if I literally have 4 apps installed on my new MacBook Pro (Office, VLC, Onyx, Transmission) and I'm very careful.
How were you able to test and what do you mean by broken? (I'm not arguing... just curious what you did
)I have VLC and Transmission installed, and neither has a receipt in /var/db/receipts, so I don't think a permissions repair would anything with them anyway.
Drag and drop applications (such as Onyx, VLC, and Transmission) do not have installer receipts so there is nothing to "repair;" repair permissions does not even know those applications exist. As Weaselboy said, repairing permissions only sets permissions back to however they were set when the installer package for a given application set them. The repair permissions function does not actually solve the problem of a developer setting permissions in an insecure way.
They offer you automated maintenance options and select all system caches by default. Just as MacKeeper they don't tell you what they do exactly, why they do it or why you should use it. At least they are not making false claims and, admittedly, they have some good tools for solving problems, but they are still contributing to the idea that clearing caches and repairing permissions is "maintenance". I think this is a problem and I just don't like this, especially when it unnecessarily confuses inexperienced users.
I've also said before that different is not the same as broken permissions. Permissions can cause problems when they prevent applications from accessing a file or folder. Just because a permission may have changed, does not mean that the application cannot do its job. When you enforce SIP, permissions repair for system permissions is effectively obsolete. When a specific application you installed yourself breaks, you can just use its package installer to overwrite and fix it or use the CLI pkgutil to do it. Permissions repair is a solution to a specific problem. It's just unnecessary to do this, I don't see why you would want to bother with it.
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As I said, on a quite "clean" machine I run permissions repair and it found several (and fixed them).How were you able to test and what do you mean by broken? (I'm not arguing... just curious what you did
I run it again and there were none left (so it actually repaired them).
That make my point stronger: with only a couple apps installed permissions break over a little time. While it doesn't affect much the OS stability, that is a proof the system isn't "bulletproof", and Apple should have left that functionality actionable by the user.
As I said, the fact that my system is basically "clean" and permissions were broken nonetheless is a proof that they aren't "bulletproof" even in El Capitan...
Onyx has a lot of disclaimer to the user before doing operations.
And NOT, system cache is NOT flushed by default. You have to manually select it.