I'm not sure what you mean by "permission problems" -- The default condition in OSX is that the root account is disabled and administrative functions must be done with sudo (cli), or, in the GUI, the user must (when challenged) enter a userid and password that have administrative privilege. If logged on as a non-admin user, you can usually enter a different userid when prompted. I don't recall any difference when I was working on a Solaris or OSF system last Autumn.
To get around these restrictions, one can "sudo su - root" or enable root login, either of which requires special attention to what you do. Logging on as a non-admin user is recommended, but awkward.
Of course, when using any M$ product, all bets are off.
And, when it comes to "repairing permissions", that is uncomfortable to former "PC" users, accustomed to being the only user on the system. Yes, periodic repairs are recommended.
--Don Ellis
On Feb 14, 2007, at 9:30 AM, lowell wrote:
Folks: A friend works on Macs exclusively and an announcement of an M$ Word vulnerability went across one of the sites she visits. This engendered a discussion of his habit of always working with administrative rights , and separate root accounts and being able to "su -" in a terminal. Then I (we) remembered that one must "verify..." and then "repair permissions" on a regular basis, even when working with administrative permissions all the time. I recall hearing that that is a common failing in the recent MacOS's (X.*) I remember some people on this list speaking of working with or using Mac's; would anyone care to comment on this situation, i.e. working as root (that's what it amounts to) and still having permission problems...