macOS Permission Issues with STING

Common Permission Problems

On macOS, you may encounter permission issues after installation or updates, particularly:

/usr/local/bin/msting: line 13: /Users/captain-wolf/.sting-ce/manage_sting.sh: Permission denied
/usr/local/bin/msting: line 13: exec: /Users/captain-wolf/.sting-ce/manage_sting.sh: cannot execute: Undefined error: 0

Quick Fix

We’ve provided a script to fix these permission issues:

# From the STING project directory
./fix_permissions.sh

Manual Fix

If you prefer to fix permissions manually:

# Fix manage_sting.sh
chmod +x ~/.sting-ce/manage_sting.sh

# Fix all shell scripts in the installation
find ~/.sting-ce -name "*.sh" -type f -exec chmod +x {} \;

# Fix msting command (if needed)
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/msting

Why This Happens

  1. File System Differences: macOS uses different file systems (APFS, HFS+) that may handle permissions differently than Linux
  2. Copy Operations: When files are copied during installation, execute permissions may not be preserved
  3. Security Features: macOS security features may strip execute permissions from downloaded files

Prevention

The installation script has been updated to better handle permissions on macOS. To ensure this doesn’t happen:

  1. Always run the official installation script:

    ./install_sting.sh install

  2. After updates, verify permissions:

    ls -la ~/.sting-ce/manage_sting.sh
# Should show 'x' permissions: -rwxr-xr-x

During Installation

The installer now runs these commands automatically:

  • Sets execute permissions on all .sh files
  • Specifically verifies manage_sting.sh is executable
  • Sets proper ownership for the installation directory.

Troubleshooting

If you continue to have permission issues:

  1. Check file ownership:

    ls -la ~/.sting-ce/manage_sting.sh
# Should be owned by your user, not root

  2. If owned by root, fix it:

    sudo chown -R $USER:$(id -gn) ~/.sting-ce

  3. Verify the msting command works:

    which msting
msting --version

Note for Developers

When developing or testing STING, always ensure shell scripts have execute permissions in the source repository:

# Before committing
find . -name "*.sh" -type f -exec chmod +x {} \;
git add -u
git commit -m "Fix: Ensure shell scripts have execute permissions"

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