Mac OS X [MAC] FAQ - "Permission Denied" message in XBMC for Mac and what it means

Why do some operations result in "permission denied"

OSX is a multiuser operating system. This means read/write access is controlled and you are NOT allowed to read/write anywhere you please.

Generally you can read/write to any directory that your login user owns. For example, /Users/frontrow/ is the user directory for user "frontrow". /System is owned by user "root". User "frontrow" is allowed to read but not write in /System.

So how do you write something to the /System directory then? Sudo is your friend. Sudo gives elevated privileges for a short time. You place "sudo" in front of the command you are doing. For example, "sudo mv myfile /System". Sudo will ask for the user password.

What about using scp to copy something into /System. Sorry, you can't do that directly using scp. User "root" is not allowed on incoming connections and user "frontrow" does not have permission to write to /System. You must use scp to copy to a location you DO have write access, then ssh in and move it into place using sudo.