Permissions Problems with 10.5.8

[grmlaw]

I may just be a worry wort, but the shear number of permissions problems that were generated on my MacBook Pro by installing 10.5.8 upgrade is very unsettling to me. Before the upgrade I had a couple of permissions problems from a recent Airport update. I just learned to live with them as there didn't seem to be any negative affect on my MacBook Pro's operation. However, the 10.5.8 upgrade has generated dozens and dozens of permissions problems which I have confirmed others have experienced by installing the OS upgrade. In following those discussions on the Apple Forum I noticed a significant number of individuals who said they were able to rid their computer of the new permissions problems created by the upgrade by "booting their computer from an external drive and then reapplying the 10.5.8 combo upgrade." I don't understand how to boot from an external drive and then reapply the upgrade from that same drive. I'm really only familiar with booting off an external drive upon which my SuperDuper backups are located. So, I thought you might understand the process or how to boot off an external drive and then reapplying the update from the same drive. I just can't figure out how that's done, and I was hoping you could explain that process to me so I could try it and hopefully get rid of these dozens and dozens of permissions problems that are reported when I run Disk Utility.