Take Control of Permissions in Leopard

by Brian Tanaka

Solve quirky problems, increase privacy, and share files better by managing permissions in Leopard.

Permissions problems got you down? Turn to Unix expert Brian Tanaka's unique guide to the permissions in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard that control access to your files, folders, and disks. You'll learn how to keep files private, when to set Ignore Permissions, what happens when you repair permissions, how to delete stuck files, and the best ways to solve permissions-related problems. Advanced concepts include the sticky bit, Leopard's more-important access control lists, bit masks, and symbolic versus absolute ways to set permissions. The book covers how to take control of permissions via the Finder, with Mac utilities, and using the command line.

Read this book to learn the answers to questions like:

• Why do so many problem-solving sites suggest that I repair permissions?
• Why can anyone with an external drive access my account?
• Why can't I always access my own files when I boot from an external drive?
• What should I do if someone tells me to "set the permissions to -rw-r--r--"?
• What are promiscuous permissions, and should I be informing the vice squad?
• What are access control lists (ACLs), and what's new about them in Leopard?
• How do I use the Unix command line to control permissions?
• What Mac utilities can change permissions, if I don't want to learn Unix?
• How do I set up and manipulate account groups from System Preferences?
• Now that the NetInfo database is gone in Leopard, how do I edit account settings such as numeric UID?

87 pages printed in either color or black-and-white with color cover; Wire-0 binding; 7" x 9".

This book is available in two versions:

• Inside pages are printed in black-and-white with a color cover for $/ea.
• Inside pages are printed in color with a color cover for $/ea.