Should I give Terminal full Access to my mac

If you never use Terminal, just leave it off.

If at some point you need to use Terminal to access items outside of your home folder or external drives, you can turn it on and once you are done you can turn it off again.

woodmeister50 wrote:

If you never use Terminal, just leave it off.

If at some point you need to use Terminal to access items outside of your home folder or external drives, you can turn it on and once you are done you can turn it off again.

That's ok if you remember or are told where that setting is. The first time I tried exploring the filesystem on here, I couldn't see why the Finder was showing more than the files shown in the Terminal. Those who like to understand the Apple system a bit, need the full scope of the file system open to the shell in the Terminal. Then you can see the Library folder, for instance. Granny may be happy just not knowing.

mechanic1357 wrote:

Changing the setting in System Settings certainly messages users, if no effect why bother with a menu setting? If there is a purpose please share.

There is a big difference between simply navigating to a hidden folder (e.g. ~/Library) vs. giving Terminal Full Disk Access.

Finder enables one to navigate around the contents of a drive. It cannot do things that Terminal can do. And giving Full DIsk Access to Terminal allows it much greater reach across the system than without it.

Full Disk Access is part of macOS security. Apps must obtain user consent before accessing files in Documents, Downloads, Desktop, iCloud Drive, and network volumes; in these cases consent may be granted when prompted by the app. Apps that need or require access to the full storage device, however, must be explicitly granted permission via Full Disk Access.

It is not a good idea to give any app Full Disk Access unless you understand exactly why the app needs it and you are confident that it will only do what it purports to do with Full Disk Access.

See Controlling app access to files in macOS - Apple Support for more details.

+1 also agree. Leave it off unless you have a specific reason to give Terminal full disk access.

Which begs the question ... what is the reason you are interested in giving Terminal full disk access in the first place?

+1 I agree and would Leave Off.

mechanic1357 wrote:

.....Then you can see the Library folder, for instance.....

pressing the option key and opening the Go menu item in Finder will give you access to the user library folder. The system, library, applications and users folders can be seen by simply opening the drive itself.

woodmeister50 wrote:

The system, library, applications and users folders can be seen by simply opening the drive itself.

Changing the setting in System Settings certainly messages users, if no effect why bother with a menu setting?

If there is a purpose please share.