# Mac OSX questions re: groups and permissions

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-osx-questions-re-groups-and-permissions/318556>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 25, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-osx-questions-re-groups-and-permissions/318556 "2005-08-25T13:26:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-osx-questions-re-groups-and-permissions/318556/1 "2005-08-25T13:26:20Z")

</div>

I’m a linux (Debian) user whose wife recently got an iBook. She asked me about sharing files on her computer with an office mate of hers by creating a new group to which they both had permissions. In linux, this would be easy; however, I know enough about OSX to know that I don’t know enough to go mucking about in /etc. I tried locating info about it, but only came up with references to Mac Server software, which isn’t an option ($499! :eek: ). Then I found the NetInfo Manager application. Which was awfully nice (or maybe just awful), as within 5 minutes of attempting to add/duplicate a group, I had locked up the entire computer and had to hard boot (who knew that simply clicking on “Management” in the menu bar would have such dire results?). So, two questions:  
[ol]  
[li]How does one manage groups and their permissions on an OSX box?[/li][li]Is there a better way to share files/directories in OSX? (Obviously, I’d rather not have to tell my wife to make things world readable.)[/li][/ol]  
Thanks for any help…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-osx-questions-re-groups-and-permissions/318556/2 "2005-08-25T13:51:32Z")

</div>

Just download Sharepoints from versiontracker. Make your life easier.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-osx-questions-re-groups-and-permissions/318556/3 "2005-08-25T20:32:05Z")

</div>

OK, I’ll give it a shot.

Is there no native way to manage groups?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-osx-questions-re-groups-and-permissions/318556/4 "2005-08-25T21:07:11Z")

</div>

The preferred way is to use the ‘NetInfo Manager’ utility application. I’m not sure why you locked up your machine. Perhaps [this page](http://archive.macosxlabs.org/documentation/guest/details/details.html) can help?

You can do these things from the command line also, though it’s more cumbersome. To create a new group:

```auto

nicl / create /groups/NEWGROUP gid 1001
nicl / create /groups/NEWGROUP passwd '*'

```

To add a user to an extant group:

```auto

nicl / -merge /groups/NEWGROUP users JOHN PAUL GEORGE RINGO

```

To delete a group:

```auto

nicl / -delete /groups/NEWGROUP

```

In the above examples, things in all caps are placeholders of course. Also, I recommend the O’Reilly book _Mac OS X for Unix Geeks_ if you think you’ll be doing a lot of programming or command-line work.