Themes in 10.2.3

stevegongrui

Hello people,



After upgrading to 10.2.3 I noticed that when I restarted, the aqua theme replaced my previous one.



I also could no longer switch themes with duality as it locks up when started. I tried installing it again but to no avail.



Has apple changed the way the appearance files work?



How do I get around this? I want my previous theme back.



Thanks.

ghost_user_name

I take it you've never read any of my tirades about the inherent problems to installing themes, right?



One of the many problems with themes is that the installers are "stupid". No, really, I do mean that. An "intelligent" installer would at least check the files to see if they contain the same resources as the original system's versions. Rather, installers like Duality just blindly replace the system resources, only performing very minimal checks for compatibility.



What's wrong with just blindly installing over existing components? Well, if I sent you a custom kernel for Mac OS X, would you just blindly replace your own kernel with it and not somehow try to check if it was the right kind? I might have sent you a kernel from an old Darwin build, the Public Beta, 10.0, or some other amalgamation I just made up. The resources that these themes replace are crucial for the OS to run, to even boot up for that matter. When Apple makes changes or additions to these files and you try to replace them with some older hacked versions, it's very likely that you will run into problems.



*sigh*



But I digress. The themers think their tools are sufficient, but when novice users run into problems, they're just out of luck. Sometimes problems can be fixed by running an Aqua restore package (also risky), but other cases may require booting into single-user mode and trying to figure out some terminal commands or just reinstall OS X from the original CDs.



Do you see where I'm going with this?



If you are adamant about running a theme on your system, you need to be EXTREMELY cautious about installing anything after a system update from Apple. If any of the files that themers hack have been changed, the theme packages themselves will have to be updated. The theme installer apps may have to be updated as well. Before you apply a theme to your newly updated system, double-check and triple-check that the theme you have has been updated specifically for the new OS version you are running.



So, to answer your original question, yes, several interface files have been changed in the recent 10.2.3 update. You will need to get updated themes and probably an updated version of Duality.



[ 12-28-2002: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>

t'hain esh kelch

Well... I tried installing a theme with Duality on my brothers iMac.. And due to 10.2.3, it ****ed up..



It kept starting Finder over and over again, so I could see multiple Finder ikons in the 'force quit' dialog spawn... And I couldnt even use the machine.. &gt;

ghost_user_name

Case in point. That was quick.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, T'hain. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

mcq

For additional information and help, go over to MacNN's new GUI Customization forum, as many themers and the customizers will be probably more familiar with how to help out. Themes are just now slowly being updated for 10.2.3, so unless they've been changed by the authors to be used in 10.2.3, it'll more than likely mess up your system somehow (missing widgets, random crashes, etc.).



Also, if you use any of SwizCore's themes (i.e. SimpleX, Pearl, Cappucino), use Themechanger instead of Duality. He's recommending it now over Duality as a theme installer app.



<a href="http://www.clichesw.com/themechanger/"; target="_blank">http://www.clichesw.com/themechanger/</a>;