Mail(1739) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist

Question

Hi Since moving from HDD to SSD and Lion to ML I am getting loads of these errors in my System LogMail(1739) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plistI am not experiencing any end issues as a result but notice I am getting 6 every second which must be causing an issueThe details are:Mail(1739) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plistProcess:         Mail [1739]Path:            /Applications/Mail.app/Contents/MacOS/MailLoad Address:    0x10f773000Identifier:      com.apple.mailVersion:         1485 (6.0)Build Info:      3-Mail~1485000000000000Code Type:       x86_64 (Native)Parent Process:  launchd [237]Date/Time:       2012-08-05 11:54:01.392 +0100OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.8 (12A269)Report Version:  8Thread 0:0   libsystem_kernel.dylib            0x00007fff8c9d5fee __open + 101   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c12a588 __33-[CFPrefsPlistSource synchronize]_block_invoke_0 + 2962   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c125f07 withDaemonConnection + 873   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c12a36c -[CFPrefsPlistSource synchronize] + 3164   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c1291a1 -[CFPrefsPlistSource synchronizeIfStale] + 1135   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c12927a -[CFPrefsPlistSource copyValueForKey:] + 426   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c128213 -[CFPrefsSearchListSource copyValueForKey:] + 1317   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c124080 __CFPreferencesCopyAppValue_block_invoke_0 + 328   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c1277e8 +[CFPrefsSearchListSource withSearchListForIdentifier:perform:] + 8249   CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8bffd67a CFPreferencesCopyAppValue + 18610  Foundation                        0x00007fff8ccb7db0 -[NSUserDefaults(NSUserDefaults) objectForKey:] + 2211  Foundation                        0x00007fff8ccb7c97 -[NSUserDefaults(NSUserDefaults) boolForKey:] + 2312  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92932d8b ABDLog + 29013  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92935eda -[ABSafeNotificationEntry reflectNotification:] + 6314  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92935cf1 -[ABSafeNotificationReflector reflectNotification:toEntryIfElligible:] + 7215  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92935c72 __50-[ABSafeNotificationReflector notificationFunnel:]_block_invoke_0 + 3716  CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c0597d9 __NSSetEnumerate + 98517  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92935c26 -[NSSet(ABSetAdditions) _abEach:] + 9118  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92935ad3 -[ABCopyOnWriteSet useReadOnlySet:] + 4419  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92935a9e -[ABCopyOnWriteSet each:] + 9120  AddressBook                       0x00007fff92935a1e -[ABSafeNotificationReflector notificationFunnel:] + 18121  CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8bff5b8a _CFXNotificationPost + 255422  Foundation                        0x00007fff8ccb7a76 -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:userInfo:] + 6423  Mail                              0x000000010f7757d524  CoreData                          0x00007fff88968e64 -[NSManagedObjectContext(_NSInternalAdditions) _didSaveChanges] + 213225  CoreData                          0x00007fff88958589 -[NSManagedObjectContext save:] + 124126  Message                           0x00007fff88d3e755 -[SeenMessagesManager saveChanges] + 4627  Message                           0x00007fff88d372f6 -[POPStore fetchSynchronously] + 217528  Message                           0x00007fff88d2edd2 -[POPAccount fetchSynchronously] + 14029  CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c036cac __invoking___ + 14030  CoreFoundation                    0x00007fff8c036b47 -[NSInvocation invoke] + 26331  CoreMessage                       0x00007fff8b271d5d -[MonitoredInvocation invoke] + 22532  CoreMessage                       0x00007fff8b28a2b2 -[ThrowingInvocationOperation main] + 3333  CoreMessage                       0x00007fff8b236602 -[_MFInvocationOperation main] + 43134  Foundation                        0x00007fff8ccfdbb6 -[__NSOperationInternal start] + 68435  Foundation                        0x00007fff8cd053d1 __block_global_6 + 12936  libdispatch.dylib                 0x00007fff8cc5ef3d _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 1537  libdispatch.dylib                 0x00007fff8cc5b0fa _dispatch_client_callout + 838  libdispatch.dylib                 0x00007fff8cc5c23e _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 30439  libsystem_c.dylib                 0x00007fff8c361ceb _pthread_wqthread + 40440  libsystem_c.dylib                 0x00007fff8c34c1b1 start_wqthread + 13Binary Images:       0x10f773000 -        0x10fb0fff7  com.apple.mail (6.0 - 1485) &lt;6C62E4AC-EBA9-3E31-B677-B26356423DE1&gt; /Applications/Mail.app/Contents/MacOS/Mail    0x7fff88914000 -     0x7fff88b32fff  com.apple.CoreData (106 - 407.5) &lt;45EF39FE-7FD6-366E-BB5C-3E86E0B7DA3C&gt; /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreData.framework/Versions/A/CoreData    0x7fff88bc2000 -     0x7fff88e08ff7  com.apple.MessageFramework (6.0 - 1485) &lt;79FA27A2-D01A-3D35-AE3A-7F8F41034728&gt; /System/Library/Frameworks/Message.framework/Versions/B/Message    0x7fff8b20c000 -     0x7fff8b2c4ff7  com.apple.CoreMessage (1.0 - 1485) &lt;1210621B-BABB-3153-A8DF-DAC0FA671D05&gt; /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMessage.framework/Versions/A/CoreMessage    0x7fff8bfb0000 -     0x7fff8c199fff  com.apple.CoreFoundation (6.8 - 744) &lt;47AEA7C7-EF9B-3FC6-AEBF-CE02FC650301&gt; /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation    0x7fff8c34b000 -     0x7fff8c417fef  libsystem_c.dylib (825.24) &lt;16B6B86C-53EE-36E8-AC2B-4AADC1008098&gt; /usr/lib/system/libsystem_c.dylib    0x7fff8c9c4000 -     0x7fff8c9dfff7  libsystem_kernel.dylib (2050.7.9) &lt;E0447BF5-E104-35B0-B28B-4156887D58F1&gt; /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib    0x7fff8cc59000 -     0x7fff8cc6eff7  libdispatch.dylib (228.18) &lt;0B6B6E7F-4D8A-3F3B-A4BF-6CF34638DBBB&gt; /usr/lib/system/libdispatch.dylib    0x7fff8cc6f000 -     0x7fff8cfcbff7  com.apple.Foundation (6.8 - 945) &lt;0C972F73-0C07-3384-98F2-B176E0289494&gt; /System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation    0x7fff92926000 -     0x7fff92be1fff  com.apple.AddressBook.framework (7.0 - 1143) &lt;EC55CF4B-4194-3163-B6E1-8C8D2712FBCF&gt; /System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/Versions/A/AddressBookAny wise wisdom?Thanks, Chris.

clintonfrombirmingham · Accepted Answer

I don&#x27;t know that it&#x27;s a ML or SSD issue - I&#x27;m running both and not seeing that problem with Mail (although I admit that I seldom use Mail).Have you tried just deleting com.apple.mail.plist? It sounds as if maybe pemissions are screwed up on that one file...No real wisdom...Clinton

Chris-UK · Answer

Did what you said and deleted and its fine now.Any ideas whats in the plist file? backed it up just incase :O)Thanks for your help.I used Superduper to migrate my HDD to SSD and think it could be something there with a permissions copy?

clintonfrombirmingham · Answer

plists are just preference files left over from the NeXTStep days... you can edit them if you know what you&#x27;re doing. And you can delete them and they will re-generate (hopefully with the right permissions!).I&#x27;ve never used SuperDuper so I don&#x27;t know how it works really. You might have just had permissions screwed up on one file - no big deal if everything else is running fine.Glad I could help - makes me feel good!Clinton

Wout Mertens · Answer

Yup deleting it solved it for me too. This is the new sandboxing of 10.8 at work, I&#x27;m guessing that it doesn&#x27;t have access to the legacy file and deleting it allows it to recreate where it should be.The file doesn&#x27;t contain anything interesting anyway (checked with "defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail").

smittyrocks · Answer

didn&#x27;t work for me, after deleting the plist, it did regenerate due to a Mail plugin I have but I still get the error in the activity log.

smittyrocks · Answer

Disregard previous post. I was in the wrong library folder. Deleted the plist from the proper library folder and my error is gone as well. Thanks for the fix.

Kiwi Graham · Answer

Same issue here - except I noticed it because all of a sudden my disk cloning operation had an extra 50GB of changed data to copy. So this error was causing many many log files in /private/var/log/aslI&#x27;m wondering if it&#x27;s due to a perference edit I did for Mail at one stage when a bundle ID had to be updated for Mail Act-On?Anyway, I have deleted that preference file now and Mail has not recreated it. Console messages seem to have dried up 🙂

Dieter Nuyens · Answer

I had the same issue.Deleting this .plist file solved my problem, but to do so I had to make invisible files visible first because I could&#x27;t find any com.apple.mail.plist file at all. After unhiding using "defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES" in the terminal I was able to delete this file and problem solved.

clintonfrombirmingham · Answer

Next time, no need to delete from Terminal - use the free "EasyFind" - available from the App Store. It finds everything, hidden or not.Clinton

PierG · Answer

Same issue and resoved the problemThanksPierG

Michael Prewitt · Answer

The .plist files are almost always preferences. I believe "plist" is short for "property list". It contains a list of keys (configuration options) and settings for each key, similar in some respects to the way the Windows Registry works, except that there is a separate file for each set of settings, instead of a single registry file as in Windows. In this case it&#x27;s a shared settings file for Mail, but I couldn&#x27;t tell you anything more about the contents. You were smart to back it up. Usually .plist files can be deleted without signicant loss, because they will be recreated automatically with default settings. But sometimes they contain important settings that may be hard to set up again, especially if you had help setting up your computer in the first place, or have lost important details that you&#x27;d need for setting up an app, such as Mail. But sometimes the settings are trivial, for example the position and size of windows, etc., and do not contain settings you&#x27;d care about, which may be in another .plist file or in some other kind of file/database.

Burke102 · Answer

This solved it for me also. Thank you!

Richard E. Cooke · Answer

I did&#x27;nt have the file, but I did have a lockfile: com.apple.mail.plist.lockfile in the folder where the file was expected.I deleted it.  Time will tell if that fixes it or not....

Richard E. Cooke · Answer

After I exited MAIL, the file appeared - became visible?I deleted it, and another LOCK file and the error did not come back when I started MAIL.Now I get this:2012-10-17 3:05:23.879 PM SyncServer[22646]: [0x7fb173c0be20] |DataManager|Warning| Client com.apple.Mail sync alert tool path /System/Library/Frameworks/Message.framework/Resources/MailSync does not exist.Which looks like an unrelated issue - Google searching I go....