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Re: OS X File Permissions
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Re: OS X File Permissions

On Wednesday, July 30, 2003, at 11:16 PM, Geoff wrote:

I've just fallen into yet another black pit: File permissions. I created another user on my machine to test multi user access to my app to find it could not gain write access to some special files I maintain in a folder at the same level as the app. I suppose the official line is that anything I want the application to remember as directed by the user should be saved in the preferences folder belonging to that user?

At the very least, user information should be kept somewhere in the user's Library folder (~/Library). If it's disposable, Preferences is good, if it's not, then Application Support. Anything that is cross user, should be stored in the global library folder (/Library). If you use CFPreferences, this is expressed by using the kCFPreferencesAnyUser user id, FindFolder would use the local domain.

Something like registration is probably global, and should be stored on an any user basis. If you can't find the information (say after a reinstall) then you can always query the user for it. Or if you want to you can write to the Application if the current user is an admin or will authenticate to one. Just be prepared that the user still isn't capable of writing to the application even if they authenticate.

Am I the only one who has developed an intense dislike for that system (as a user not a developer)? It has always bugged me that when I personalise an app it can't simply stay that way when I need to do a clean install of the OS and in particular as a developer I've changed OSs more often than my shirt and believe me that doesn't give my shirts long to gather any BO.

Most Apps that I've seen personalize themselves (and this is really only Adobe & Microsoft products) do it from a separately authorized application, not from the personalized application itself (such as Adobe's Installer or Office's First Run app). But the bigger kicker is that those apps will still require you to run the installer/first run again if you do erase the drive for other reasons. So while it may be a pain to have to dig out those registration numbers & re-personalize your apps, it's a consequence of doing an Erase & Install OS installation.

I suppose I can see why this is so under OS X as multiple users of the same app on the same computer will want different prefs but I'm creating software for use in a MIDI studio that is most likely to be used by one user on one computer (nobody's sharing my four machines that's for sure) and I can see a lot of work rolling out before me for the sake of exceptional circumstances.

And I can just as easily see a MIDI studio with particular devices on particular computers and users bounce between machines daily depending on what they are working on. All their preferences are stored on a server and they expect their preferences to wander with them (palette layouts, colors etc) but other preferences to stay put (device prefs, audio unit presets, synth sets, etc).
--
Reality is what, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
Failure is not an option. It is a privilege reserved for those who try.

David Duncan
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References: 
 >OS X File Permissions (From: Geoff <email@hidden>)



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