permission repair question (log included)

[space-time]

a friend call me, he tried to locate a file with Sptolight and he could not find the file. When he looked for it in the right folder, the file was there.

He checked the HD and found some permission errors. Disk Utility was not able to fix the. I asked him to send me the log, it look to me like it's nothing to worry about, but I thought I would double check.

He also used Disk Utility to verify the hard drive and that was OK.

I think he's running 10.5.x on an Intel iMac

here is the Disk Utility Log he sent me. he run it several times and these errors keep coming up.

2009-10-26 21:34:33 -0400: Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”

2009-10-26 21:34:33 -0400: 	Reading permissions database.

2009-10-26 21:34:33 -0400: 	Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.



2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/AirPort Base Station Agent.app/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/DVD.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/FRSettings.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/FRSources.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Movies.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Music.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Photos.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Podcasts.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/TV.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:21 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Versions/A/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:29 -0400: Permissions differ on 
Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:29 -0400: Permissions differ on 
Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .

2009-10-26 21:39:29 -0400: Permissions differ on 
Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/iTunesHelper.app/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .

2009-10-26 21:40:03 -0400: Warning: SUID file 
System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources/DiskManagementTool
 has been modified and will not be repaired.

2009-10-26 21:40:03 -0400: Warning: SUID file 
System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Locum
 has been modified and will not be repaired.

2009-10-26 21:40:04 -0400: Warning: SUID file 
System/Library/Extensions/webdav_fs.kext/Contents/Resources/load_webdav
 has been modified and will not be repaired.

2009-10-26 21:40:05 -0400: Permissions differ on 
System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/RemoteDesktop.menu/Contents/CodeResources
, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .

2009-10-26 21:40:06 -0400: Warning: SUID file 
usr/sbin/pppd
 has been modified and will not be repaired.

2009-10-26 21:40:06 -0400: Warning: SUID file 
usr/sbin/vpnd
 has been modified and will not be repaired.

2009-10-26 21:40:13 -0400:

2009-10-26 21:40:13 -0400: Permissions repair complete

[Doc]

Repairing permissions is somewhat less useful than cleaning your glasses with a greasy rag.

The usual reason why people can't find files with Spotlight is a misconfigured search.

[Doc]

And read this.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448

[space-time]

thanks Doc

[Black]

Careful, someone just got arrested a few days ago for showing their log while cooking in their own kitchen.

[silvarios]

Doc has it right. Repairing Permissions has its uses, but for the frequency that it is used a a troubleshooting step...well, it isn't really doing what people seeem to think Repair Permissions is doing.


Nathan