Repairing Permissions

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Can someone explain, simply, what "Repairing Permissions" is all about?

I did this a few days ago, and saved the results given by Disk Utility, then repeated the exercise tonight. On comparing the two files, they are identical, so that the permissions allegedly repaired the first time needed repairing again the second time.

So presumably nothing is actually "repaired".
 
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Permissions are to do with what users have read and write permissions on any given file, it doesn't repair a damaged file, but repairing permissions is important to keep things running smoothly.

Where they are more important is access and security.

For example, you cannot view the files in another User account from your account. More importantly there are some system files and folders that users and programs have no access to, making OSX and other UNIX based systems so much more secure from malware that is so common under Windows
 
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Give OnyX Titanium's Software • Download a try, it does a better job than Disk Utilities. It also has several useful functions bundled with it.

Repairing permissions (RP) can be likened to tuning a vehicle motor. Permissions (an odd name) get cluttered with repeated use, and repairing them 'tunes up' the OS.

You do not need to use RP more than about once a month, unless you're frequently adding and/or deleting applications, especially those that are OS-related.
 

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