[Alex00087]

Im trying to install Broadband Optimizer into my startup items folder but everytime I try to drag the folder into the startupitems folder...it says that I can't because the "startup items folder cannot be modified." How can I fix it so that I can 'modify' it?

[Xeo]

Which "StartupItems" folder are you talking about? If it's the one located at /System/Library/StartupItems, then you shouldn't be able to edit it directly. Everything in the /System directory is like this and it's for security and safety purposes. This is why the /Library directory was provided to us.

Assuming that's your problem, simply create a folder in /Library called "StartupItems" so the whole path would be /Library/StartupItems. I'm pretty sure stock OS X doesn't come with this folder made and that's where your problem is.

On the other hand, you may already have a folder there and that's what you've been trying to use. The permissions may be wrong on that. You should have write access to that directory. You can fix this with a few commands from the terminal. You ONLY need to do this if the directory is already there but you can't write to it. If you just created the folder, don't worry about this. Type the following (the % representing the prompt):

<font face = "courier">% sudo chgrp wheel /Library/StartupItems
% sudo chmod 775 /Library/StartupItems</font>

The first line changes the group associated with /Library/StartupItems to wheel, in case it got switched to "unknown". This may or may not fix the problem alone. The second line changes the permissions so read/write is available to the owner and the group, and only read to everyone else. This also may or may not fix the problem alone.

However, together they will fix it. They make sure the permissions have the correct users and the correct settings so you will have access under administrator accounts.

I solved 2 variations of the problem as I interpreted it. Remember that you don't need to do both to solve the problem.

[mrfoxxman]

oh yeah.... or you could just goto the System Preferences.....that would be too easy though.....

[The DJ]

Originally posted by Xeo:
[QB]
sudo chgrp wheel /Library/StartupItems
sudo chmod 775 /Library/StartupItems
[QB]

I'm quite sure the first should be
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial">code:</font><HR><pre><font size=1 face=courier>
sudo chgrp admin /Library/StartupItems
</font>[/code]

Only admins should have the rights to change things systemwide, which is what you are doing by adding a StartupItem.

DJ

[Alex00087]

Thanks!

sudo chgrp admin /Library/StartupItems

worked

[Xeo]

Originally posted by The DJ:
<STRONG>

I'm quite sure the first should be

sudo chgrp admin /Library/StartupItems

Only admins should have the rights to change things systemwide, which is what you are doing by adding a StartupItem.

DJ</STRONG>

Here's my question for you. What's the difference between "wheel" and "admin" then? As far as I can tell, the answer is "nothing" in OS X. All admins are in the group "wheel" and all admins are in the group "admin." No other users are added to either.

It makes no difference which you use, so long as it sets the group to an admin-access group... which wheel does fine.

[Xeo]

Originally posted by mrfoxxman:
<STRONG>oh yeah.... or you could just goto the System Preferences.....that would be too easy though.....</STRONG>

huh?

[edit: ahh, got it. You're talking about "login items" right? Not the same thing. Many things, like MySQL for example, you want running at system startup, not at user login time. You can't do that from the Sys Prefs. You have to stick those things into the StartupItems folder.]

[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Xeo ]

[Subzero Diesel949]

Originally posted by Xeo:
<STRONG>Here's my question for you. What's the difference between "wheel" and "admin" then? As far as I can tell, the answer is "nothing" in OS X. All admins are in the group "wheel" and all admins are in the group "admin." No other users are added to either.

It makes no difference which you use, so long as it sets the group to an admin-access group... which wheel does fine.</STRONG>

So what's the point of having a "wheel" group?

[The DJ]

Originally posted by Xeo:
<STRONG>Here's my question for you. What's the difference between "wheel" and "admin" then? As far as I can tell, the answer is "nothing" in OS X. All admins are in the group "wheel" and all admins are in the group "admin." No other users are added to either.

It makes no difference which you use, so long as it sets the group to an admin-access group... which wheel does fine.</STRONG>

Well, wheel is the group equivelant of root. It is also the first group of the root user. Whereas the first group of an admin user is admin.
(first group is the group to which a file belongs when a user first creates it)

Actually, the reason admin users are also added to the wheel group is because a root created file may not be editable by an admin user for instance. The idea is that though you would not normally use the root an admin could look into files created by root.

[Subzero Diesel949]

Ah, makes a little more sense now. Thanks.