Linux Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - v5.45, by Herong Yang
"Operation not permitted" Error on macOS
This section provides a tutorial example showing 'Operation not permitted' error when executing a shell script file on macOS system.
On macOS systems, you may get the "Operation not permitted" when accessing a file with a command in the "Terminal" window. Here is my experience on my Mac computer.
1. Download a package in ZIP file format.
2. Unzip the package, I see a shell script file, start.sh.
3. Run the script file, I see the error, "Operation not permitted".
herong$ ls -l *.sh -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 herong staff 3922 start.sh herong$ ./start.sh -bash: ./start.sh: Operation not permitted
4. Copy the script file and replace the content with one line. I still get the same error.
herong$ cp -p start.sh s.sh herong$ echo 'echo "Hello world!"' > s.sh herong$ ./s.sh -bash: ./s.sh: Operation not permitted
5. Create a new script file. I can run it no problem.
herong$ echo 'echo "Hello world!"' > n.sh herong$ chmod +x n.sh herong$ ./n.sh Hello world!
6. Compare both script files with "ls" and "diff" commands. I see no differences.
herong$ diff s.sh n.sh herong$ ls -l *.sh -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 herong staff 20 n.sh -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 herong staff 20 s.sh -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 herong staff 3922 start.sh
The easier solution is to clone "start.sh" by taking its content only.
herong$ cat start.sh > start-2.sh herong$ chmod +x start-2.sh herong$ ./start-2.sh ...
So there must be a hidden attribute on "start.sh" that prevents the shell command to execute it.
On the Internet, I see articles relating the "Operation not permitted" error to 2 possible root causes. But I don't think they apply to my issue presented above.
Table of Contents
Cockpit - Web Portal for Administrator
"more", "head" and "cat" - Read Files
"split" and "cat" - Split and Join Files
"compress/uncompress" - Compressed *.Z Files
"gzip/gunzip" - Compressed *.gz Files
"xz/unxz" - Compressed *.xz or *.lzma Files
"tar -c" and "tar -x" - Create and Extract Archive Files
"zip" and "unzip" - Create and Extract ZIP Files
►"Operation not permitted" Error on macOS
SELinux - Security-Enhanced Linux
SSH Protocol and ssh/scp Commands
Software Package Manager on CentOS - DNF and YUM
vsftpd - Very Secure FTP Daemon