Chapter 14: Managing User Accounts and Privileges


This Chapter examines the types of user accounts in Mac OS X. You find out how to create and manage those user accounts using the Accounts preference pane, and how to assign privileges using Get Info.

Unix and Privileges

As discussed in Chapter 1, Mac OS X is Apple’s first true multi-user desktop operating system. Because of its Unix underpinnings, Mac OS X provides the ability to employ a Unix-style security model. In Mac OS X, each user is provided with his/her own user account. As we noted, each user account provides a separate customizable workspace/environment for its assigned user. An example of this is that all user accounts contain their own home folder to save their documents in. Additionally, each user account can be customized with its own preference settings. For example, your Appearance preference settings don’t affect other users, and vice versa.

Central to Mac OS X’s multi-user security model is the concept of privileges. Simply stated, privileges (which Unix folk refer to as permissions) provide the control mechanism for access to files, folders, and applications within Mac OS X. Because Mac OS X was designed for a single computer to be shared among many users, it requires a means to prevent one user’s data from being accessed or deleted by another user. This is where privileges/permissions come into play. In an OS X system, every file, folder, and application is assigned a user and a set of privileges. In fact, even running applications have ownership.

Note

Some preference settings affect all users (a global effect) and are typically denoted by a lock in the bottom left-hand corner of their respective preferences panes.




Mac OS X Bible, Panther Edition
Mac OS X Bible, Panther Edition
ISBN: 0764543997
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 290

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