Mac App Store file permission

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Is it me or the apps purchased through the Mac App Store have different file permission compared to other apps? The system owns the apps, and everyone else had a read-only access.



Does someone know the reason for this?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    parttimerparttimer Posts: 250member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by einsteinbqat View Post


    The system owns the apps, and everyone else had a read-only access.



    Afaik that is governed by the choices you made when you installed and configured the the apps: "for this account only/for all users" (on this machine).
  • Reply 2 of 6
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Parttimer View Post


    Afaik that is governed by the choices you made when you installed and configured the the apps: "for this account only/for all users" (on this machine).



    I don't remember making that choice. And I'm the only user on this Mac.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,324moderator
    I would expect it to do that as a security measure. If the apps are installed with similar permissions to normal files, it would allow applications downloaded from the internet to modify apps from the App Store in a malicious way without requiring authentication from the user. Malware and viruses can attach themselves to applications so protecting executable binaries with higher permissions is a sensible thing to do.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    I would expect it to do that as a security measure. If the apps are installed with similar permissions to normal files, it would allow applications downloaded from the internet to modify apps from the App Store in a malicious way without requiring authentication from the user. Malware and viruses can attach themselves to applications so protecting executable binaries with higher permissions is a sensible thing to do.



    agrred



    9
  • Reply 5 of 6
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    I would expect it to do that as a security measure. If the apps are installed with similar permissions to normal files, it would allow applications downloaded from the internet to modify apps from the App Store in a malicious way without requiring authentication from the user. Malware and viruses can attach themselves to applications so protecting executable binaries with higher permissions is a sensible thing to do.



    That sounds logical. I'm curious to know Apple's reasoning behind this.



    I first realised that when I tried to change the icons of the new App Store apps, and the new icons would not take. File permissions are not the same as the other apps.



    So what do you guys think about temporarily changing the file permissions and then resetting it? Would that be okay?
  • Reply 6 of 6
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,324moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by einsteinbqat View Post


    So what do you guys think about temporarily changing the file permissions and then resetting it? Would that be okay?



    Yeah that should be ok to do if they don't have a feature that checks the validity of the application install. You might not even have to change the permissions back.
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