[adamsdad]

Hey,

I was running the repair permission on the disk utility of my macbook pro version 10.6.7 and it showed this message after it had finished:

Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent" has been modified and will not be repaired.

Is this something I should be concerned about?

Thanks

[besson3c]

No.

There is probably just a discrepancy over what the permissions of ARDAgent should be. If you are using Apple Remote Desktop and are not having problems I wouldn't worry, and if you aren't using ARD I wouldn't worry either...

Generally speaking repairing permissions is a waste of time, and not worth fussing over. I see people recommending to repair permissions on the Apple support forums constantly, but the truth is that this task is just pointless voodoo that less savvy folk who are inclined to offer suggestions suggest when they are grasping at straws. I've seen people suggesting that repairing permissions will help your machine run faster, and that it will potentially fix pretty much any generic problem... The task has a very specific purpose designed to help address very rare problems, and is not a magic "click button, fix stuff" solution. 99% of Mac users will never have to run this tool, ever.

Sorry for the rant.

[Spheric Harlot]

^ what he said.

Mac OS X: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore

[SierraDragon]

Yes, ignore such warning messages.

Repairing Permissions is not "pointless voodoo" but it usually is a small amount of wasted time and is seldom a fix and is not harmful.

-Allen

[besson3c]

Well, it can in theory be harmful if piggybacked on as a security exploit.

I didn't mean to suggest that it is actually voodoo, but it is treated as such by those not understanding what it actually accomplishes. The whole "spinning beach ball? Try repairing your permissions", "machine running slow? Repair your permissions", "hard drive making funny clunking sounds, have you tried repairing your permissions?" crowd...

[Spheric Harlot]

And especially the "repair permissions before and after repairing permissions" crowd.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

And especially the "repair permissions before and after repairing permissions" crowd.

Heh... yeah.

Repair permissions, run the combo updater, restart, repair permissions again, restart, run Cocktail, repair permissions again, then DiskWarrior, a defrag tool, another permissions repair, clear hard drive space, and if this doesn't work prepare to reformat and reinstall, but don't upgrade past 10.6.5... Oh, and when you are done that be sure to repair permissions again, and then call me in the morning!

[CharlesS]

Oh, and make sure to do all that before every software update, even a minor update to iTunes.