pinkapplemac
Level 1
(18 points)
Q: "Apply to Enclosed Items" permissions HOME FOLDER
Hello.
This is more of an informational issue - I was having something odd happen on my Mac - and called Apple. My Photos Library back up size was different than the one on my Hard drive. After another manual run of TM it changed.
Without hesitation the first thing Apple had me to was to "Get Info" on my home folder and change permissions to "Apply to Enclosed Items" - it took awhile.
Afterward, Time Machine indicated it had 139+ GB to back up. My entire hard drive. Few hours later it finished. I have another TM drive that I did NOT force a back up on before I noticed things gone awry and before the above changed per Apple.
Since, and maybe this happened afterward, unsure of the timeline, whenever I open, modify a document Finder won't note those different times. Upon rebooting, Photos will say in Finder that the library has been opened and modifed at boot time.
My concern/question is that I was given very bad advice with the "Apply to Enclosed Items" at my home folder level (every bit of data that is mine) - I wasn't experiencing permission issues that were obvious to me. Everyone and everywhere I turn I see and read that doing that is a very BAD idea.
Now, engineering is looking at my things - but wonder if I haven't past the point of no return. I do have my data on a drive with the flag set at "ignore ownership" and am using iCloud Photo Library so if we have to wipe and reload I do have those things I may rely on.
Any wisdom is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
H
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)
Kappy
Level 10
(271,323 points)
That is an uninformed comment that is correct as it relates to system related folders such as the primary root Library folder, Users folder, Applications, and System folder.
Although the Home folder is created during the original OS X installation, if you check its permissions you will find that you are the owner.
The remarks about ACLs should be considered cautiously. Most things do not have ACLs unless they have been assigned custom permissions for some reason. However, one can reset all ACLs as follows:
Reset User Permissions and ACLs in OS X
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
From the Utilities menu select Terminal. At the Terminal prompt enter: resetpassword. Press RETURN. When the window opens select your startup drive where it says "Select the volume containing the user account:" At the bottom of the window you will see, "Reset Home folder permissions and ACLs." Click on the Reset button.
