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which user:group to expect in user files

Hello,
I'm having trouble with a drawing application where the drawing doesn't show while the cursor is moving, but only shows up when I right-click at the end. Other similar applications behave normally.
This only happens within one user account and I've taken a more thorough look at properties of the files in this account. (It has been transferred thru time over many macs and os x' releases and is quite messy, some library files get back to 2007). I find as owner:group most of the time myuser:staff, but sometimes root:staff or mysuer:admin or other ones (many many to pick from). What is the normal expectation for this: should all be myuser:staff (easy to fix by chown) or are these "outliers" normal feature ?

Thank you very much for any information or hint.
(of course I tried deleting prefs, reinstall with no success)

Message was edited by: Jacques Lacroute

iMac 27" Core i7, McBook Intel,iMac 24" 3 3,06Ghz,iPad, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Feb 10, 2011 12:29 AM

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Posted on Feb 10, 2011 3:34 PM

The user who creates a file become the owner of that file. So if you make a copy of somebody else's file, you become the owner of the new copy. If you move somebody else's file into your home folder, the other user still owns the file. So make a copy for yourself and delete the old one, or change the ownership of the original if you know how to do that.

The group that is applied to a new file or folder is inherited from the containing folder. For example, the group for my user account's home folder (originally created in 2002 on a 10.2 system if you can believe it) is "wheel". When I make a new file in my home folder, the file gets the wheel group. A different user account I have is called "tv". It was created with Snow Leopard and its home folder has the group "staff". Making a new file in that home folder results in the group "staff" being assigned to it.

No matter what owner and group are specified, file/folder permissions are always the same for new files. Read+Write for the owner, and Read Only for group and others.

I hope this helps.
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Question marked as Best reply

Feb 10, 2011 3:34 PM in response to Jacques Lacroute

The user who creates a file become the owner of that file. So if you make a copy of somebody else's file, you become the owner of the new copy. If you move somebody else's file into your home folder, the other user still owns the file. So make a copy for yourself and delete the old one, or change the ownership of the original if you know how to do that.

The group that is applied to a new file or folder is inherited from the containing folder. For example, the group for my user account's home folder (originally created in 2002 on a 10.2 system if you can believe it) is "wheel". When I make a new file in my home folder, the file gets the wheel group. A different user account I have is called "tv". It was created with Snow Leopard and its home folder has the group "staff". Making a new file in that home folder results in the group "staff" being assigned to it.

No matter what owner and group are specified, file/folder permissions are always the same for new files. Read+Write for the owner, and Read Only for group and others.

I hope this helps.

Feb 11, 2011 2:54 AM in response to Jacques Lacroute

Thanks for taking the trouble.

My accounts get back to ?? (I'm a Mac user since 1985) and I've transferred them from Mac to Mac throughout times, hence a rather messy user account. I've tried since posting this thread many things to try and fix my problem and, now, despite a coherent user profile in the account folder, repaired ACL's, checked drive, fixed some strange attributes, and so on, the issue is still there. As I've got an issue ( since longer time) with Mail, I'll post in the Mail forum and maybe the solution of that one (if I get it) will solve the other. Thanks again for your help.

Feb 11, 2011 4:22 AM in response to Jacques Lacroute

When you say you repaired ACLs, did you do this procedure? http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10329971-263.html

For all my Documents, it is username staff with o=rwx (700)
Everything else appears to be 755.

The only ACLs are on the main subfolders (Documents, Downloads, Pictures, etc)
group:everyone deny delete
And, all of those folders are 700 except public and Sites (755).

Feb 11, 2011 9:56 AM in response to Barney-15E

I repaired ACL's via the utility in the install CD.

Since my last post the issue has become more puzzling and better defined:

Only in my account, when I open this application, the UI doesn't really work (drawing is not happening normally, but also the tool windows that should open when one selects a tool appear in odd locations, their activ part is outside from their image etc..). If, however I move the main application window by as little as 1 pixel, bingo, everything's working fine until I shut the application down. When I relaunch, the issue is back, and only in this one user account. In any other one it's fine from start.

Any suggestion on where to look for a solution, rather than using this workaround, is welcome

which user:group to expect in user files

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