Trixology
General Category => General Computing/Macintosh => Topic started by: Blicj11 on April 01, 2016, 08:41:57 PM
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I am probably the last Weather Catter on El Capitan to discover this, but in case I am the penultimate user, here is what I learned today.
In one of the threads, Stu recommended Yosemite users check disk permissions to make sure there are no errors or cross-linked files. http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=2089.msg19374#msg19374
After I read his post, I discovered that the old standard repair disk permissions that has been part of Disk Utility for years is not part of Disk Utility in El Capitan. I did a bit of poking around and discovered that it has been removed because it is no longer necessary. El Capitan automatically repairs disk permissions during software installations and updates. There are more technical explanations, but here is a good, plain English article on the topic: http://www.imore.com/say-goodbye-repairing-file-permissions-el-capitan
Apparently diehards can still run repair disk permission from the command line. http://osxdaily.com/2015/11/04/verify-repair-permissions-mac-os-x/
I am not a die hard.
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the old standard repair disk permissions that has been part of Disk Utility for years is not part of Disk Utility in El Capitan.
Yep. I believe you'll also find that Permissions were only repaired for Apple's own files/apps. Seems my "memory" is a bit foggy on when that was shown to me; the point was that 'repairing permissions' didn't do any good if it was some third-party file/app. Many claimed it never made any real changes/fixes/differences.
Frankly, I think Apple simply removed this function because they got tired of updating/maintaining the Apple Document that listed the reports we could ignore! Now, it either reports it only reports when it fails. [rolleyes2]
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Correct, however, I was referring to checking the disk/file system - this is 'Repair Disk' prior to 10.11, or 'First Aid' in 10.11.
The permissions check was removed in 10.11 due to SIP (System Integrity Protection) being introduced - which Apple thought meant the only people who could modify those permissions were Apple (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204899). Sadly, that isn't the case:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/30/apple_os_x_rootless/
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Interesting read Stu. Thanks for posting.
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I am guessing Apple is realizing that the majority user isn't and never will be tech savy along with Microsoft. They are making things less usable, modified and so forth.
The wife needs a new computer. So I went to Best Buy as she wants a PC. I figured since she multi-tasks, a fast processor and 12 g of Ram should help. A young kid who works there was eager to help and this old fart knows his stuff. However, I said what I wanted. the first unit he shows me has 4 gig ram. I said it won't be what I need. His words were that in his expertise that 4 is enough for any game, social media and so forth. I said that might be true but for a lot of us, 12 is better with a fast processor because we multitask. I went on to say that for people his age, sitting on the can texting, isn't multitasking.
Anyway, he said he would leave me alone and scampered like a timid woodland creature off into the forest of assorted crap they sell. She wants an all in one, Dell has one for about a thousand with a built in cd/dvd drive and 5 usb ports, 2.0 -2. 3.0 -3. Go figure.
If you look at the beauty of some of these all in one computers, no user access to the goodies and the same with software. With a PC, you can go to the folder containing the program and poke around. With the Mac, that isn't going to happen or be easy.
So with Permissions, I am guessing that either they wanted the OSX code to be smaller or that some folks were screwing up thing royally in the process, so they cut that out of the works.
I am adjusting to the mac, there is a learning curve, but the compromising curve is steeper.
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I am adjusting to the mac, there is a learning curve, but the compromising curve is steeper.
I agree. I made the jump from PC to Mac about 12 years ago. I hated it for about 3 weeks as I tried to figure out terminology and processes. When I finally started to catch on, I found out I like it. The more I learned, the more I liked. Now I would never go back. Hang in there.
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I am adjusting to the mac, there is a learning curve, but the compromising curve is steeper.
I agree. I made the jump from PC to Mac about 12 years ago. I hated it for about 3 weeks as I tried to figure out terminology and processes. When I finally started to catch on, I found out I like it. The more I learned, the more I liked. Now I would never go back. Hang in there.
I have used a Mac before. The high school I taught in issued Mac Pro Books to every teacher. so we had those to take from place to place/room to room . It was wonderful. I could take it on vacation and do what I needed with it. of course the district monitored every thing. We used it for meetings, grades, mail and stuff. I would bring it home and it was a second computer when i was working on IEPs at home, I could have the Mac logged on to a data base I needed to reference. I learned a lot about that computer. On a humor note, I was getting on my PC notifications of music on my itunes that I don't recall loading, so I would delete it. Eventually I got curious and checked my pc itunes and I was still sharing with the computer I checked in. So I did a hasty disconnect of that sucker
PC's for ever, it seems. When we were in the Apple store for another matter, the unit grabbed my eye and I used to have 5 external hard drives tons of wires and with the all in one, only two external drives, a few wires . It also connects with all my other gadgets, such as iphone, ipad, etc. I have a fitbit blaze but have considered the iwatch. Not really ready to shell out a lot of money for a toy, but still. :)
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With a PC, you can go to the folder containing the program and poke around. With the Mac, that isn't going to happen or be easy.
Actually, it's not quite that bad. :) You do need to have Admin privileges, but who doesn't have at least one Admin account set up?
If the app you want to delete/rename/move/etc. is one you added yourself, just do what you want to with it. That's one reason why I never recommend anyone to use an "app remover" program. :)
If it's an app that comes with the machine (installed and updated by Apple), you can still do what you want with it. But you will have to provide an Admin password. What you do with it is up to you, but doing something without knowing the consequences will be just as bad as doing that on a PC. :o I don't care for the new versions of the iWorks apps, so I put them in a separate folder/directory. I keep the old ones in another directory along with all the documents I've created with them. This just makes it a bit easier to drag one of them to the old app rather than the usual 'double-click' to open them. At least Apple didn't hide/delete the old versions when the new ones came out. [rolleyes2]
As for "No Permissions Repair" in El Capitan , if it's such a bother, turn of SIP. Not advised, but it's certainly possible and not difficult, at all (even if you've never used a Windows PC [cheer]). However, the permissions repaired will still only be those for Apple files & apps and you'll lose a good bit of security. OTOH, some people use an Admin account all the time and leave the machine available to anyone in the house, including the cat! [goofy]
edited to hopefully sound less like a 'fanboy'! [blush]
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Since OS X is a version of Unix, a good understanding of Terminal can be extremely helpful. There are many tutorials on the app, but a search at the <MacIssues (https://www.macissues.com/2016/04/04/how-to-manage-file-in-use-or-locked-errors-in-os-x/)> blog can be a great way to see a few of its capabilities. The site is written by an expert on the Mac and some of that machines deeper mysteries! [removed link to the now castly photobucket.com site]
Many of the "Utilities" apps are not much more than GUI front-ends to the commands usable in Terminal. The apparent 'loss' of a function in some utility does not always mean that function has been removed from access via Terminal. [cheer]