File sharing does not work in Mojave - permissions not inherited

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File sharing does not work in Mojave - permissions not inherited

"Upgraded" from MacOS Server on El Capitan to Mojave. Apple claims that the file sharing function has been removed from MacOS Server because it is now built into the core OS since Mojave. This is not true.

File sharing in Mojave does not work because permissions set on folders are not inherited. This means that if you give read/write permissions to a group, as soon as one user in the group modifies a file or creates a new file, those files will no longer be able to be read (or written) by the rest of the group.

I have had long discussions with Apple Support on this and they have no answer. The problem is very easy to recreate and means that MacOS machines can no longer be practically used as servers unless you delve into terminal and apply a manual fix (https://techion.com.au/blog/2018/6/9/share-with-directory-permission-inheritance).

I am frankly baffled and very disappointed in the quality control processes at Apple that would allow such a fundamental flaw to pass through to production and then to remain unresolved for so long!

Mac mini, OS X 10.11

Posted on Feb 12, 2020 3:55 PM

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Answer 1

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davidav Author

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Feb 17, 2020 7:23 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks Barney. TinkerTool System fixed it so problem solved.

My point re Apple is that we shouldn't need a 3rd party software tool or to run commands in Terminal just to be able to have the most basic file sharing capability imaginable. Especially when Apple told us that File Server was a service that had been "migrated from macOS Server to macOS High Sierra and later" - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208312. That just wasn't true.

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Answer 2

davidav Author

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Feb 19, 2020 3:42 PM in response to Barney-15E

You have described something that could be called file co-locating, definitely not file sharing. Not really the point either. Apple told us that "File Server" had been "migrated from macOS Server to macOS High Sierra and later" - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208312. Hard to argue that File Server was not a proper file sharing capability. They did come clean on other services that had been removed and even provided a detailed guide to tell people how to download and use open source alternatives. But the built in File Sharing in Mojave & Catalina is not in any way shape or form a replacement for the previous MacOS File Server services - at best, Apple have been economic with the truth.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

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116,782 points

Feb 13, 2020 7:35 PM in response to davidav

The "manual fix" isn't a fix. It is how you create ACLs to add granular permissions to your shares.

Nothing actually changed with Mojave. The Server app just hid it from you by providing a GUI for creating the ACLs. There is no longer a GUI built into the Server app for that purpose.

This Macworld article discusses using TinkerTool System to set up ACLs using a GUI if the command line isn't your cup of tea.

https://www.macworld.com/article/3196071/how-to-use-tinkertool-system-5-to-set-folder-permissions-in-macos.html

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Answer 4

davidav Author

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Feb 17, 2020 4:43 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks Barney. Just tried TinkerTool System 6 and finger crossed it looks like it should fix our issues and appears to have all the permissions/ACL functionality removed with MacOS Server.

I have tried resolving this with Apple Support's help - their engineers said that the issues had been fixed in Catalina - I have tested and this is not true - in fact in some ways Catalina makes things worse.

I am still baffled as to how anybody at Apple could think that File Sharing is working or at all useful - what is the point of a file sharing "capability" that does not even allow two users in the same group to each make changes to a file (or even read it after the other person has changed it)?

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

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116,782 points

Feb 17, 2020 7:09 PM in response to davidav

I've never had Server installed and I have set up my Mini "server" using ACLs to do exactly that. It has worked in previous versions and it still works in Catalina. I'm not sure what you are doing.

What is your ACL?

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

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116,782 points

Feb 18, 2020 7:02 PM in response to davidav

They can both access it with basic sharing. They are just prevented from altering another's files. If they need to alter another person's file, then they can make a copy and edit. That's a basic expectation.

If you want to provide the full features of a file server, then you have to set it up correctly to provide that kind of access.

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

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116,782 points

Feb 19, 2020 4:32 PM in response to davidav

Server was just an app that provided GUI tools to make it easy to manage the underlying Unix file system. File Server provided the GUI tool for creating the proper ACL to make a share act as a file server. It didn’t provide anything else.

File sharing is exactly the same whether you run the old Server app, the new Server app, or straight macOS.

You now must manually manage the ACLs to achieve the same result. The underlying Unix is exactly what it was before. Server didn’t add anything to the underlying system. It was just a tool to make it easy to assign the ACLs.

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Answer 8

davidav Author

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9 points

Feb 19, 2020 4:44 PM in response to Barney-15E

I get that. The point is that Apple removed file sharing management from the MacOS Server app and told people that File Sharing Server is "bundled with every installation of macOS High Sierra and later”. That is not really true and is very misleading and unhelpful for anybody trying to upgrade a MacOS server to Mojave or Catalina.

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