Anecdotes are not Proof of an Antidote

g/re/p

g/re/p

I can haz cigar?
http://www.unsanity.org/archives/000410.php
Now let's see what some very silly people are saying about repairing permissions and why it is flat out wrong.

7) Repair Permissions

8) Install Mac OS X 10.x.x update

9) Repair Permissions

Ugh. This is the one that annoys me the most and the reason why I wanted to write this rant. When 10.3.9 came out, I saw this all over on just about every single Mac related website. This really boils my blood. First we have the completely bizarre suggesting of repairing permissions before installing an update. Useless. When you install a system update (or pretty much any updater using Installer.app) you are asked for your password. This makes the installer process run as root. Wrong permissions, bad permissions, no permissions, it doesn't matter. root is god. It doesn't care about what some small little file has as its permissions. It will just ignore them completely. *chortles demonically* You can't stop root. Repairing permissions won't increase the chances of the install succeeding (nor will it decrease the changes). Point nine is equally as baffling. As the installer is installing/updating files it also reset the permissions to those that will be in the receipt that the repair permissions process reads from. You just installed these files, they are going to have the correct permissions.
Click to expand...
 
I agree, goes-to-show-ya how even someone with a (supposedly) good grasp of the system can spread bad info.

You were pointing this out for criticism, and not for accuracy, right?

Such as 'You just installed these files, they are going to have the correct permissions.' Eh, not so. I have rarely installed printers without having repair permissions touch numerous files, especially Epson.

And the 'fact' that the installer ignores permissions. Well, I hope so, but it doesn't do anything with that little fact, so files go into the system with no permissions changed.... So, if running Repair Permissions then touches all these files (again), couldn't the installer take care of this first - during the install? Of course, it doesn't, because the installer 'ignores permissions'...
So, you end up with these simple maintenance tasks (which (of course), end up being overused, I agree, but are part of the environment)
 
I think repairing permissions beforehand may be excessive (I don't usually bother/remember), but afterwards certainly makes sense. I've had problems with permissions on fresh updates many times. Nothing show-stopping, but Disk Utility reported it as a problem, so I'm glad to have it repaired.
 
DeltaMac said:
You were pointing this out for criticism, and not for accuracy, right?
Click to expand...

Actually, i posted this to get feedback on the subject.

The rant sounds somewhat plausible, but i was pretty sure
someone here could (and would - lol!) explain why the author
of the rant was wrong if he was in fact wrong.
 
I don't think he's wrong. But he's not talking about Epson drivers but OS X updates, particularly the 10.3.9 update. My opinion here is clear:

1.) Use the _combo_ updater. Always. Simply _ignore_ the Mac OS X update that pops up in Software Update, go to Apple's website and download the combo.

2.) Repairing permissions is an okay measure if you run into problems. If you ain't got any problems, why go through a (unnecessary) reboot... (Repairing permissions _without_ rebooting afterwards won't do you much good, anyway.)
 
<bitter unix guy>
Because the cargo cultists don't think the magic pixie permission dust will stick properly without rebooting.
</bitter unix guy>

In all honesty I can come up with some cases where it might help but those are really convoluted and more a sign of very poor design on someone's part.
 
If files which were meant to be accessed at boot/login time had corrupt permissions, then there ya go &#8212; you'll need to reboot. But for most files, it shouldn't matter.
 
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