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ZenoFabes

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Mar 14, 2012, 8:08:38 PM3/14/12
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Hi,

I just downloaded TextWrangler 3.5.3 from the website, not the App
Store. I am attempting to change a system plist. When I go to save I
am asked to authenticate with the admin password, after I do that I
get the error message.

"You do not have sufficient privileges to perform this operation"

What am I doing wrong?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Willis Ross

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Mar 14, 2012, 8:40:37 PM3/14/12
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What is the path to the file you are trying to change?

-Bill

Hi,

Thanks

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ZenoFabes

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Mar 14, 2012, 8:44:43 PM3/14/12
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/System/Library/CoreServices

On Mar 14, 5:40 pm, Willis Ross <z1r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What is the path to the file you are trying to change?
>
> -Bill
>
> On Mar 14, 2012, at 5:11 PM, ZenoFabes <bfab...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I just downloaded TextWrangler 3.5.3 from the website, not the App
> Store. I am attempting to change a system plist. When I go to save I
> am asked to authenticate with the admin password, after I do that I
> get the error message.
>
> "You do not have sufficient privileges to perform this operation"
>
> What am I doing wrong?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the
> "TextWrangler Talk" discussion group on Google Groups.
> To post to this group, send email to textwr...@googlegroups.com
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> textwrangler...@googlegroups.com
> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/textwrangler?hl=en
> If you have a feature request or would like to report a problem,
> please email "supp...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group.

ZenoFabes

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Mar 14, 2012, 8:53:01 PM3/14/12
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/System/Library/CoreServices

Trying to edit the SystemVersion.plist

On Mar 14, 5:40 pm, Willis Ross <z1r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What is the path to the file you are trying to change?
>
> -Bill
>
> On Mar 14, 2012, at 5:11 PM, ZenoFabes <bfab...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I just downloaded TextWrangler 3.5.3 from the website, not the App
> Store. I am attempting to change a system plist. When I go to save I
> am asked to authenticate with the admin password, after I do that I
> get the error message.
>
> "You do not have sufficient privileges to perform this operation"
>
> What am I doing wrong?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the
> "TextWrangler Talk" discussion group on Google Groups.
> To post to this group, send email to textwr...@googlegroups.com
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> textwrangler...@googlegroups.com
> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/textwrangler?hl=en
> If you have a feature request or would like to report a problem,
> please email "supp...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group.

Willis Ross

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Mar 15, 2012, 4:35:58 AM3/15/12
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Your going to have to do that as "root" through the terminal to not
mess up permissions.

If what you provided is exact case spelling..
From terminal...
cd /System/Library/CoreServices/

Backup the file first:
sudo cp SystemVersion.plist SystemVersion.plist.orig

Then edit with vi:
sudo vi SystemVersion.plist

Sudo'ing will prompt you for you machine password and open the file
for edit as root. If you have never used "vi" for editing, look up the
instructions.

-Bill

/System/Library/CoreServices

please email "sup...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group.

Patrick Woolsey

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Mar 15, 2012, 9:55:21 AM3/15/12
to textwr...@googlegroups.com
At 17:53 -0700 03/14/2012, ZenoFabes wrote:
>/System/Library/CoreServices
>
>Trying to edit the SystemVersion.plist
>

If that is the actual file (on your Mac) you're trying to edit*,
TextWrangler should be able to modify it once you authenticate.

If however you're attempting to modify an equivalent file on a connected
filesystem, that may or may not work.


[* NB that in general it is not a good idea to manually edit *anything*
within /System.]


Regards,

Patrick Woolsey
==
Bare Bones Software, Inc. <http://www.barebones.com>
P.O. Box 1048, Bedford, MA 01730-1048

ZenoFabes

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Mar 15, 2012, 12:13:51 PM3/15/12
to TextWrangler Talk
Bill

Thank you for the information. That worked perfectly! I appreciate
your help.

On Mar 15, 1:35 am, Willis Ross <z1r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Your going to have to do that as "root" through the terminal to not
> mess up permissions.
>
> If what you provided is exact case spelling..
>     From terminal...
> cd /System/Library/CoreServices/
>
>    Backup the file first:
> sudo cp SystemVersion.plist SystemVersion.plist.orig
>
>    Then edit with vi:
> sudo vi SystemVersion.plist
>
> Sudo'ing will prompt you for you machine password and open the file
> for edit as root. If you have never used "vi" for editing, look up the
> instructions.
>
> -Bill
>

Willis Ross

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Mar 15, 2012, 12:36:26 PM3/15/12
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Patrick,
System files owned by root/wheel have to be edited as root using
the sudo command. TextWrangler
Falls just short of being able to do this because it cannot save as root/wheel

-Bill


Regards,

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please email "sup...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group.

Patrick Woolsey

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Mar 15, 2012, 2:03:53 PM3/15/12
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Willis Ross <z1r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> System files owned by root/wheel have to be edited as root using
>the sudo command. TextWrangler
>Falls just short of being able to do this because it cannot save as root/wheel


Hi Bill,

Sorry but that's not the case: you can use the direct download version of
TextWrangler to modify any local file that you (i.e. your login account)
can open, including the one mentioned in this thread. :)

[In the event you need to edit a file which you can't open, you will then
have to modify its permissions first.]

Willis Ross

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Mar 15, 2012, 4:33:48 PM3/15/12
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I've tried it and no it will not!

Now if you run TextWrangler as root it will work. The easiest way to
do that is to do this command:

From terminal...
sudo open -a TextWrangler <path/filename>

That will run text wrangler as root and let you edit the file and save
it properly without messing up permissions.

-Bill


Hi Bill,


Regards,

--

Patrick Woolsey

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Mar 15, 2012, 6:28:02 PM3/15/12
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Willis Ross <z1r...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I've tried it and no it will not!


Hi Bill,

That should work, so (provided you're using the direct version) please drop
a note to support and we'll take a look.


>Now if you run TextWrangler as root it will work. [...]

We strongly recommend against doing that, which is why we built support for
auth saves into the app.

Willis Ross

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Mar 15, 2012, 8:48:26 PM3/15/12
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The authentication saves do not work for objects that are a members of
the wheel group from my experiance.

-Bill

Willis Ross <z1r...@gmail.com> wrote:


Hi Bill,

Regards,

--

Thomas Fischer

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Mar 16, 2012, 10:11:35 AM3/16/12
to textwr...@googlegroups.com
Hi Bill,

> I've tried it and no it will not!

I tried it too and it worked, with unlocking the file first (the pencil button on the very left, which is crossed out when you open the file), then changing something and saving the change. For that I had to authenticate as administrator, root was not needed.
The ownership remained with root:wheel (System 10.6.8).

Best
Thomas

Jason Adair

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Jan 4, 2016, 9:44:30 AM1/4/16
to TextWrangler Talk
hello all,

i know this is an old thread, but i just came across it in my search for trying to do the same thing, but for a different file.

times have changed from 2012-2016, so here's my stats...
  • MacBookPro OS 10.11.2 (El Capitan)
  • TextWrangler 5.0.2 (direct download from website, not MAS)
  • Attempting to edit file > /Applications/Notes.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/DefaultFonts.plist
the default font & size for the Notes app is just WAY tooooo small for me to easily see, so i found elsewhere that i should edit this file to my liking.

so here's what happens/process...
  1. i open the plist file in TW
  2. i change the Helvetica font size from 12 to 28 (just to see if this will work, making it obvious; if it does, i'll end up changing the font AND size)
  3. as soon as i try to type, i get the "Unlock" popup msg that says, "Are you sure you want to unlock DefaultFonts.plist? You aren't a member of the group Wheel. [Cancel][Unlock]"
  4. i click Unlock & finish typing the change, then do a File/Save
  5. popup comes up for my password saying, "TextWrangler wants to make changes. Type your password to allow this."
  6. i do, then get the immediate popup warning/error that says, "This operation couldn't be completed, because an error occurred. This file could not be opened for writing, probably because it is in use by another application (MacOS Error code: -54)"
  7. so that's it, it won't do it. what am i missing?
thanks.
.peace.:.jason.

Patrick Woolsey

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Jan 4, 2016, 11:13:03 AM1/4/16
to textwr...@googlegroups.com
On 1/2/16 at 3:21 PM, jason...@gmail.com (Jason Adair) wrote:

[...]
>- MacBookPro OS 10.11.2 (El Capitan)
>- TextWrangler 5.0.2 (direct download from website, not MAS)
>- Attempting to edit file > /Applications/Notes.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/DefaultFonts.plist
>
>so here's what happens/process...
>
>1. i open the plist file in TW
>
>[ then modify it and attempt to save changes]
>
>6. *i do*, then get the immediate popup warning/error that
>says, "This operation couldn't be completed, because an error
>occurred. This file could not be opened for writing, probably
>because it is in use by another application (MacOS Error code: -54)"


The key issue here is that OS X 10.11 El Capitan's "System
Integrity Protection" feature does not permit modifying
protected files--such as this one--by *any* means, i.e. not via
TextWrangler's auth save support, or the command line, or
anything else.

So, I regret this specific operation just isn't possible.

(PS: For more info about this El Capitan feature, please see:

<http://www.macworld.com/article/2948140/os-x/private-i-el-capitans-system-integrity-protection-will-shift-utilities-functions.html>

and in particular the subsection titled "Look, but don't touch".)


Regards,

Patrick Woolsey
==
Bare Bones Software, Inc. <http://www.barebones.com/>

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