OS X permission denied for /usr/local/lib

Question

I'm looking for any advice/intuition/clues/answers on a permission issue that has been plaguing me ever since I switched over to a new Macbook pro. Here's the dilemma. Certain programs copy libraries under /usr/local/lib during install and upon running these programs I get a crash which I believe is related to permission restrictions to files in this folder. I've had errors (can't access files from this path) trying to install plugins for audacity and then tried doing an "ls" under this folder. I immediately get permission denied unless I prefix the cmd with sudo. I've tried owning the /usr/local/lib/audacity folder with my user account and even still I get permissions errors on these files. It's important to note that the problem is not exclusive to Audacity. I've seen the same problem with Polycom video conference software and I've also been unable to run Parallels on this machine. (I haven't traced Parallels to the same issue but I'm betting its related.) I vaguely recall some weird Linux cmd magic I used to use back in the day that would not only grant permission to a user but tweak some low level bits allowing/disabling certain things like execution and I seem to recall the permission thing ran deeper than execution but its been years. I can't recall the detils and I'm wondering if there's something similar on OS X that I'm possibly overlooking. Is there something special about that location and the files there in? Could I have somehow altered my file system in a way tht the files appear different? For what its worth, I seem to be able to use at least one of the programs if I log in as root. I haven't tried with the other programs as I've just discovered the ability. Please help.

Answer 1

It sounds like the folder isn't world executable. Try:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/lib

and then you should be able to use ls or anything else in the folder (still won't allow you to right but your user account shouldn't be able to do that anyway)

Answer 2

Found the answer from a coworker buddy. The folder needed to be marked executable.

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/lib

fixes everything!