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There is an app called Sandbox which lets you edit OS X ACLs. This will let you assign pretty much any level of access you want to anything you choose with frustrating granularity. It isn't as easy as just clicking a button labelled "Read my mind and do what I want" but it seems to work OK here.

macaddictguy wrote:

...then there is a mutual agreement to allow access to each another's files.

erm. no.

there is no mutual agreement.
admins can add stuff to the system.
admins can remove stuff from the system.
admins can change forgotten passwords.
admins can do lots of stuff including change access privileges for files and folders.

but for the most part, admins must authenticate in order to do these types of things.

>>> if you want to provide access for another user, make them part of the same group as your account's stuff and provide read, write, execute privileges as needed. <<<

the whole idea is to have someone make a conscious decision to allow access. you may not care if other users can see your data, but would you care if they changed it? how about if they deleted it?

the system doesn't know you are the user of the only two admin accounts. the presumption is that the files of janeuser are generally safe from userjoe, unless they override the standard access privileges intentionally to get to those files.  so, no. there is no mutual agreement, as far as the system is concerned, with regard to access of disparate admin user's files.

in short, what alien said.

NetInfo Manager will let you assign new users to groups.

Customization of access on OSX blows and always has. Groups or no groups it is just a pain in the A$$ and does not function well in a multi user LAN/ small office setting allowing everybody full read write access to everything on everybody else's home directory. So if I copy something from my machine to another computers user's home directory they have full read write on it. This should be configurable for OSX out of the box via a GUI and it is not unless you are running Server.

I've got sandbox, but it really seems oriented to changing perimissions on specific items. I just want to put my new user in the same group as my old user.

Hell, I can do that in Winders!

You could use the get info window to change the group (in details of the ownership and permissions section) of the item to admin,  give them read access, then 'apply to enclosed items' to have a whole folder accessible.  Only admin accounts would have access: they would be able to read all files, but would still have to enter an admin password to change or delete them. 

This would have to be done by the user who owns the files.