Something is wrong with my Mac, as indicated (and still unresolved) in the question:
What is the Sixth Step of MacBook Repair?
One possibility is that the main disk is faulty.
Disk Utility reports that the disk permissions are corrected if I run "Repair Disk Permissions". I do this after "Verify Disk Permissions" says that:
Permissions differ
on "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/.../UIAgent.nib;
should be -rw-r---r--; they are drw-r---r--.
Permissions differ
on "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/.../MainMenu.nib
should be -rw-r---r--; they are drw-r---r--.
(8 similar set of errors are reported)
But then if I once again run "Verify Disk Permissions", the exact same set of permissions are reported.
Do I:
- call the disk unreliable and replace it,
- reformat the disk (and reinstall OSX) hoping the bad sectors would
be flagged and avoided, - do something more nimble?
Exactly the same problem happens if I run Disk Utility from the OSX DVD.
Edit
It's a bit annoying, but even after a partition/format/install OSX sequence, some permissions are incorrect out of the box.
Group differs on “Library/Java”; should be 0; group is 80.
Permissions differ on “Library/Java”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are drwxrwxr-x .
User differs on “usr/share/collabd/webauthd”; should be 94; user is 221.
Group differs on “usr/share/collabd/webauthd”; should be 94; group is 221.
User differs on “usr/share/collabd/webauthd/locales”; should be 94; user is 221.
Group differs on “usr/share/collabd/webauthd/locales”; should be 94; group is 221.
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/zh_TW.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/zh_CN.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/ru.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/ko.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/nl.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/it.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/es.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/fr.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/de.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on “usr/share/devicemgr/frontend/admin/ja.lproj/app/javascript.js”; should be lrwxrwxrwx ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Group differs on “Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.
Best Answer
Usually, you'd ignore the problem. It just means that contradictory permissions are specified for those files. It can't satisfy all of them at once.
Source: About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature
The problem here is that different receipts specify different permissions for a file. If it sets them one way, they're wrong according to the other.
I think Apple used to mention possible contradictions in permissions, I'll see if I can find it.
But in your specific case:
Looking at the specific permissions in your log, I doubt this applies to you. The
d
indicates a directory, which means a file has been replaced with a directory. Fixing permissions is not going to fix this; it can't transform the directory back to a file.I suspect this would be fixed with a reinstall. I doubt the disk needs replacing, however.