on 28/7/08 4:15 PM, Robert Howells at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > On 28/07/2008, at 3:24 PM, Neil Houghton wrote: > >> >> >> (A) On my G5 iMac, with a fairly new Leopard installation (currently >> updated >> to 10.5.3) and just one user, I see 4 folders and one alias: >> Applications >> Library >> System >> User Guides and Information (alias) >> Users >> >> (B) On the final Tiger clone of my 24" Intel iMac prior to installing >> Leopard, I see the same plus 3 additional folders >> Software Downloads (user added folder) >> To Sort (user added folder) >> dev - seems to be empty (or contents hidden) >> I don't know what the dev folder is or does (Sharing and Permissions >> shows >> system, wheel & everyone - all as read only). >> >> (C) Currently the upgraded 24" Intel iMac shows the 4 folders + one >> alias >> that I can see on the G5, plus the two user added folders that I can >> see on >> the Tiger clone (presumably imported by Migration Assistant) PLUS >> folders: >> bin >> cores >> Developer >> private >> sbin >> usr >> Volumes >> PLUS aliases (all to folders in private): >> etc >> tmp >> var >> >> (D) The bootable clone of (C) shows all the visible files/aliases as >> (C) >> PLUS folders: >> dev (as on B) >> home >> net >> >> Now, my current thinking is that: >> >> 1) Various system folders/files which are normally hidden in Finder >> view >> show in the view of the bootable clone on the external firewire >> drive - >> which is why I see dev, home & net on (D) but not (C). I think this is >> pretty normal? > > Not unusual ! >
Good! That's what I thought! >> >> 2) "Developer" and "Volumes" have the capitalised first letter and >> "Developer has a custom folder icon, so I'm assuming that they SHOULD >> actually be visible. > > err No ! Not on my 10.5.2 > Well, no, they weren't on my original Tiger installation nor on my PPC 10.5.3 (on the G5 iMac. I was assuming they had been installed, perhaps, as part of the 10.5.4 update? I figured the "Developer" folder was meant to be visible not only because it was first letter capitalised but also because it had one of those custom folder icons (like Applications, Library, System & Users - except that the "logo" on this folder icon is a little hammer) - why give it a pretty custom icon if its meant to be hidden? With the "Volumes" folder I wasn't so confident except for the first letter capitalisation - all the other "hidden" files seem to be just lowercase names. If it helps: The contents of "Developer" is a folder called "Applications" containing a folder called "Utilities" containing aliases to two applications; "Applet Launcher" and "Jar Bundler" both original application files reside at /usr/share/java/Tools - so I figure the "Developer" path to the aliases is just provided for convenience to let you get at the applications since the direct path would be hidden if "usr" was hidden. The contents of "Volumes" is just two aliases to the mounted volumes - in my case, at present, the computer hard drive and the external firewire drive. Seems kind of pointless when they are in the Finder sidebar but it could be useful if you have unchecked the option to show them in the sidebar and don't choose to display them on the desktop. Anyway, I'm not too bothered about "Developer" or "Volumes" (provided them appearing is not associated with some deeper problem) as their contents do not seem to invite trouble! >> >> 3) I'm assuming that bin, cores, private, sbin, usr, etc, tmp & var >> are >> system folders/files which should normally be hidden (like dev, home >> & net) >> - ie I could expect to see them on (D) but not (C) - but that >> somehow the >> updgrade/migration has rendered them visible. > > > I guess the real question is ... are these duplicates ? > or are they working files ? > ( which I would not expect . I think you have copied them ) > > AND are your working files hidden now like they should be . > Yes, the million dollar question! I was assuming they were not duplicates because of the straight name (as opposed to, say, bin(1) or something) I did think, as you do, that I HAD copied them - but that they had overwritten the original files and, in the process somehow become visible. - however, I have no factual basis for this opinion!! > > > There is an App " Invisibles " which can make your > invisible . files .. visible and then make them > Invisible when you require it . > > <http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14722> > > You could use that to expose the currently invisible files , but > identify the current files so you know which is what . > Hmmm, thanks Bob, I'll check that out. Maybe it will just let me make the offending files invisible... But is that really what I want to do? Is the visibility the problem or the symptom?! > Bob > > > >> >> >> I should say that I HAVE repaired permissions to no effect. >> >> It strikes me that not only is having these files visible confusing, >> it is >> potentially dangerous (easier for accidents to happen!). >> >> Any ideas how to restore the default visibilities for these files - >> or is it >> a sign of deeper problems? >> >> >> TIA (hopefully!) >> >> Thanks again Bob, I'll report back with any new info Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
