[Tennberg]

Hi everyone,

I am building a standard OS X install based on Mike's Mac OS X Management (www.bombich.com).

In it, he recommends that any apps that are installed have their ownership changed so that they are owned by root. Will this lead to any problems when a non-admin user logs in and uses one of those apps? Will *files* that a non-admin user creates using a root-owned application *also* be owned by root?

On that note, should the entire Applications folder and everything in it be owned by root? Any problems with that?

Thanks...

[Millennium]

Having apps owned by root is not a problem, unless they have the suid bit set (you cannot set this bit from the GUI; it has to be done from the CLI). No app should run suid, and especially not suid root, unless it is absolutely necessary. Only one app needs this on a standard OSX install: Classic. X11 needs it too, but that's not a standard part of the install.

However, having apps owned by root is not a problem in and of itself. Most of your CLI programs already are, in fact.