What is the issue with permissions in Mac OSX?

I don't have a solution for you, but I have no problems like this at all. I know that you can apply permissions, just make sure that once you set the permissions that you apply it to all the folders below it. This is an extra step of going to the little gear icon and selecting "Apply to Enclosed Items". If you want everyone to have access to it, and it being on an external drive, it sounds like you do, try getting info on the top folder (cmd-I with the folder selected) then, if locked, unlock it with the admin name and password. From there check to see if "everyone" is listed under the Sharing & Permissions -> Name field. If it is, make sure that under Privilege it says "Read & Write" not just "Read Only". Then click the gear icon (next to the +/-) and select "Apply to Enclosed Items". This will make sure everything in that folder and the subfolders will have the same permissions.

Now you should have no problem reading and writing it. Permissions are inherited from the person copying / moving the files around. Thus sometimes they aren't the way you want them to be, but this is how it should be. It is basically the way Unix does it.

 

OSx permissions are basically *NIX. It can be quite confusing for a novice to understand this. One thing you have to be careful of is to NOT go in and start changing permissions if you don't know what you are doing - this easily leads to an unbootable system.

Repair permissions doesn't solve problems with the user's own files; it's basically for system files so that the system will run properly. You can set files in your own folders to all kinds of weird permissions and repair permissions is likely to ignore it.

 

I guess I am lucky. I haven't ever had to ask for permission or whatever that stupid thing is. Never a dialogue or a setting or anything. Good. The very word is revolting.

Knock, knock on wood...

 

The very word is at the core of what makes Mac OS X so secure. It's not designed to restrict you, it's designed to keep malware, would-be hackers, and unauthorized (non-admin) users out of where they shouldn't be.

 

Never had an issue on OSx either; I don't fool around with permissions.

On Unix, however, when I was working I used to have days when I had to sweat blood to straighten out screwed up permissions.

 

I've never had any experiences with permissions acting up in such a way, no.