I have an iMac running Mac OS 10.3.9 which had a disk crash, and so I 
recreated the system from a backup (which involved an "archive and 
install" -- I didn't realize until too late that Carbon Copy couldn't 
directly restore a system disk that was my only boot disk).

After much patience, I got the system, users, and data (including mail 
files) restored.  From my non-administrative user account, I soon 
realized that changes I made to my desktop and dock were accepted but 
didn't survive logoff and re-logon, and that my mail app (SeaMonkey 
1.1.1) couldn't work in its mail folders.

I did some investigation and noticed that the data files were owned by 
an administrator account, not the non-administrator user.  After 
changing the ownership (which was surprisingly hard, changing the "get 
info" display only changed the top-level folder even if I chose to apply 
the changes to the contents), things were working again.

(Basically, I deleted the user's home folder contents, set its 
ownership, and then restored the contents a second time.  The 
permissions still don't look quite right, but the non-admin user is now 
the owner, and can read and write.)

Is there any easy way to get the permissions correct on user folders? 
What are they supposed to be, anyway?  (Yes, I used "repair permissions" 
in the Disk Utility as well, but I gather that only fixes known Apple 
components and applications.)

Bob

On Mar 26, 1:19 pm, Bob Fleischer <bobfnos...@nospamduxsys.com> wrote:
> I did some investigation and noticed that the data files were owned by
> an administrator account, not the non-administrator user.  After
> changing the ownership (which was surprisingly hard, changing the "get
> info" display only changed the top-level folder even if I chose to apply
> the changes to the contents), things were working again.

The "apply to enclosed items" button only works on files that the user
already owns.

> Is there any easy way to get the permissions correct on user folders?
> What are they supposed to be, anyway?  (Yes, I used "repair permissions"
> in the Disk Utility as well, but I gather that only fixes known Apple
> components and applications.)

Assuming your non-admin account username is "jim", login to your
*admin* account, open Terminal, and enter:

sudo chown -R jim:jim ~jim [press enter, enter admin password when
prompted]
sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~jim

That will ensure that "jim" owns and can write to the entire contents
of his home folder.

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.

Kir�ly wrote:
> The "apply to enclosed items" button only works on files that the user
> already owns.

Ahh!  Light dawns!  I thought it forced both permissions and ownership!

Thanks for the commands.

> sudo chown -R jim:jim ~jim [press enter, enter admin password when prompted]
> sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~jim

I assume from your suggested command lines (and common sense) that the 
ownership of files under a user's home folder should be simply the user. 
  What group should they be in?  (I notice that there are groups with 
the same name as the users -- is that it?)

Bob

On Mar 26, 3:01 pm, Bob Fleischer <bobfnos...@nospamduxsys.com> wrote:
> Kir=E1ly wrote:
> > The "apply to enclosed items" button only works on files that the user
> > already owns.
>
> Ahh!  Light dawns!  I thought it forced both permissions and ownership!

No, and for good reason!  Imagine what trouble a clueless newbie might
have if he opened his boot drive's Get Info panel, adjusted the
permissions, and clicked "Apply to enclosed items."  His entire system
would be thoroughly hosed.  Apple makes it a little tougher for you to
hose your own system.

> I assume from your suggested command lines (and common sense) that the
> ownership of files under a user's home folder should be simply the user.
>   What group should they be in?  (I notice that there are groups with
> the same name as the users -- is that it?)

Yes, the default in Tiger is that when a new user is created, a new
group with matching name and GID number is automatically created at
the same time.  That group contains only the new user, and it becomes
the default group on new files created in the user's home directory.

Kir�ly wrote:
> Assuming your non-admin account username is "jim", login to your
> *admin* account, open Terminal, and enter:
> 
> sudo chown -R jim:jim ~jim [press enter, enter admin password when
> prompted]
> sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~jim
> 
> That will ensure that "jim" owns and can write to the entire contents
> of his home folder.

One more request -- the "Shared" folder doesn't seem to be working as I 
expect.  What are the owner, group, and permission settings expected in 
the "Shared" sub-tree?

Bob

Bob Fleischer <bobfnospam@nospamduxsys.com> wrote:
> One more request -- the "Shared" folder doesn't seem to be working as I 
> expect.  What are the owner, group, and permission settings expected in 
> the "Shared" sub-tree?

By dafault, the owner of any file is the user who created the file.  The 
permissions are read/write for the owner, and read only for group and 
others.  This is the default for *all* new files, no matter here they are 
saved on the boot drive; even in /Users/Shared.

The default group *privilege* (i.e. "who") for new files/folders is 
inherited from its parent folder.  Bit the group *permissions* (i.e. 
read/write) is always read only, regardless of the permission setting of 
the parent folder.

-- 
K.

Lang may your lum reek.