How do permissions on OSX work

[janeserky]

I need help with OSX permissions. I have tried to find an explanation on the web but haven't had much luck understanding the comments.

I am familiar with the types of permission i.e. - create, read, write and delete, and understand that they can be applied at the file and folder level for different users. I don't understand some of the user groups or the precedence though.

I'd like to tackle user groups first. I'm OK with setting up my own groups with different permissions, but am not clear what the default groups are that OSX creates:

1 what are the groups 'staff', 'system', 'wheel', 'system group' and 'everyone'?

2 when I check permissions on the 'shared' folder, I can see 2 different sets:
2.1 using 'get info', I can see 'system', 'wheel' and 'everyone'
2.2 using 'system preferences/sharing', I can see 'system administrator', 'system group' and 'everyone'

Is 'system' the same as 'system administrator' and 'wheel' the same as 'system group'?

Thanks

 

[ferrarr]

You didn't mention what version of macOS (OS X?) you were using, but it shouldn't be too different, here are the most recent versions, according to Apple, Change permissions for files, folders, or disks on Mac - Apple Support. Also, have you tried the "Help" feature for System Preferences? FYI, when you use the "Get Info", did you look at the gear icon at the bottom of the window? It offers the option to "apply to all enclosed items".

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Mac permissions are grounded in Unix permissions where you have 3 levels of control (read, write, execute) and 3 groupings of control (owner, group, world). On a day to day basis, on a single Mac in your home environment, there are absolutely no reasons to be playing with groups and other type of permissions.

In a shared network, for example, you would restrict access to files/folders based on people's groups. For example, you could have a folder just for Finance, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, etc, etc.

Your user account usually ends up in the Wheel group.