Latest Mac OS X 10.5.1 build fixes Finder data loss issue

[AppleInsider]

Apple Inc. on Monday continued to pound away at its first maintenance and security update to the recently released Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system, issuing a new test build to developers that fixes the much publicized Finder data loss issue.

People familiar with the ongoing testing process for Mac OS X 10.5.1 Update say the new build, labeled Mac OS X 10.5.1 build 9B16, was accompanied by a note to developers that specifically mentions a Finder-related fix affecting files that are moved between directories.

It was widely reported earlier this month that Leopard's Finder is affected by a glaring bug in its directory-moving code, which could lead to horrendous data loss if a destination volume disappears while a move operation is in progress.

Those people familiar with pre-release builds of Mac OS X 10.5.1 also added that the software update will deliver an enhancement to Leopard that will allow Apple's Software Update and installer applications to make revisions to application files which may have been moved outside their designated "Applications" directory on Leopard volumes.

As was the case with build 9B13, which was released for private testing last Monday, Apple is reportedly asking that its developers test the latest build broadly, paying particular attention to Time Machine, Mail, iCal, Back To My Mac, Bonjour, AirPort, gaming graphics, networking and the Finder.

Mac OS X 10.5.1 is expected to be released as a free update within a few weeks' time.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[JohnnyKrz]

Those people familiar with pre-release builds of Mac OS X 10.5.1 also added that the software update will deliver an enhancement to Leopard that will allow Apple's Software Update and installer applications to make revisions to application files which may have been moved outside their designated "Applications" directory on Leopard volumes.

This is the best news I've heard in a long time. Imagine being able to put applications where you want them. Who thought of such a crazy idea?

[lkrupp]

Originally Posted by JohnnyKrz

This is the best news I've heard in a long time. Imagine being able to put applications where you want them. Who thought of such a crazy idea?

And somebody will still bitch because they "decided" to put Safari in a subfolder nested 15 levels deep and the "enhanced" Software Update can't find it.

[mstone]

Originally Posted by lkrupp

And somebody will still bitch because they "decided" to put Safari in a subfolder nested 15 levels deep and the "enhanced" Software Update can't find it.

Nice thing about Unix is the terminal
find / -name "Safari.app" -print

if it is on the harddrive it'll find it.

m

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by mstone

Nice thing about Unix is the terminal
find / -name "Safari.app" -print

if it is on the harddrive it'll find it.

m

And then they'll complain that it didn't get updated even though they renamed it...

[auxio]

Originally Posted by JohnnyKrz

This is the best news I've heard in a long time. Imagine being able to put applications where you want them. Who thought of such a crazy idea?

I still don't understand why people would rather organize their applications into separate folders in the Finder rather than just putting folders with links to applications in them onto the dock?

I mean, isn't a pain to have to launch Finder and navigate to different folders to launch applications all the time? As opposed to just clicking and holding a labeled dock folder, scrolling to the application you want to launch, and selecting it?

[kim kap sol]

Originally Posted by auxio

I still don't understand why people would rather organize their applications into separate folders in the Finder rather than just putting folders with links to applications in them onto the dock?

I mean, isn't a pain to have to launch Finder and navigate to different folders to launch applications all the time? As opposed to just clicking and holding a labeled dock folder, scrolling to the application you want to launch, and selecting it?

Don't try to understand them. Just know that there are some weirdos out there.

These people either a) don't share a computer with anyone else (have more than one account) where putting applications in the Application matters if access to those applications is important to all account, b) have some odd fetish of manually organizing things on their computer and prefer navigating their hard drive and hunt wabbits...errr, apps instead of putting the often-used ones in the Dock and using Spotlight to find the other ones or simply opening the Applications folder where apps *should* be. I mean, why not? Is it a crazy idea to keep apps in the Applications folder?

While I agree that the ability to update apps that aren't found in the Applications folder should have existed in 10.0, I find people that micro-manage their apps and documents a bit crazy. Humans are mostly irrational. But some are ridiculously irrational and it's almost disturbing.

[rain]

I'd be happy if they fixed the CD/DVD frimware problem that has rendered my 17" laptop useless to me.
Reads cd's and music dvd's just fine, but can't read any of the data DVD's i've burned. On the Apple Discussion forums, this seams to be a common big problem, so i'm not alone.

FYI, Leopard on a 1ghz 17", 1gig ram, zero'd drive-fresh install... is slower then Tiger, still usable, but sags quite a bit.

[auxio]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

Don't try to understand them. Just know that there are some weirdos out there.

Actually, I kinda blame Apple for this situation.

I mean, I'm a fairly advanced user and so I know about symbolic links and whatnot. I don't like using Finder to launch apps, but then I also don't like having 100 applications on my dock, each of which has an icon that's about 10x10 pixels large so that they can all fit on the screen (like my wife does). So I know well enough to create folders with symbolic links in them, and then drag them to the dock as a way to organize. But this isn't something well documented or intuitive to the average Mac user.

What would be nice is if Apple had something which automated this application organization process (aside from using Spotlight to search for apps -- which isn't the best way either if you don't want to use a keyboard just to launch an app).

Maybe a way to select dock icons and create a folder for them? Or even just a way to create a dock folder from the dock itself so that you can manually drag and drop dock icons into it.

[kresh]

Originally Posted by auxio

I still don't understand why people would rather organize their applications into separate folders in the Finder rather than just putting folders with links to applications in them onto the dock?

I agree 100%. I keep all apps in the Applications folder so I can find the actual app file if I need to. I keep a folder on the Dock with links nested by function. It works great in Tiger (Stacks screws that up though).

[mstone]

Originally Posted by auxio

Maybe a way to select dock icons and create a folder for them? Or even just a way to create a dock folder from the dock itself so that you can manually drag and drop dock icons into it.

You can drag your Applications Folder to the dock.

[JupiterOne]

Originally Posted by mstone

You can drag your Applications Folder to the dock.

Really? Could you please give me step by step instruction on how to do this? This must be simple, but I've heard this over and over and every time I drag my Applications folder to the Dock it goes *POOF*! Is there some kind of key+drag combination that I have to do?

[admactanium]

you really need to discover quicksilver or launchbar for application launching.

[mrjoec123]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

Really? Could you please give me step by step instruction on how to do this? This must be simple, but I've heard this over and over and every time I drag my Applications folder to the Dock it goes *POOF*! Is there some kind of key+drag combination that I have to do?

Make sure you drag to the far right side of the Dock, just to the left of the Trash can, on the right of the dividing line. Folders can't "live" on the Applications side.

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

Really? Could you please give me step by step instruction on how to do this? This must be simple, but I've heard this over and over and every time I drag my Applications folder to the Dock it goes *POOF*! Is there some kind of key+drag combination that I have to do?

Don't drag the Applications icon from the sidebar of a Finder window. That's just a shortcut itself. You need to drag the *real* Applications icon located at the root of your hard drive.

[mdriftmeyer]

What I loved about NeXTSTEP in Networked environment, at NeXT.

All Applications were installed, on the Server which had the Directory exported into NetInfo and client systems mapped to to folder.

We just dragged a link to the Shelf of WorkspaceManager.app or to the Dock and launched the executable using local resources, but having no applications installed to hog the drive system.

It made for deploying updates much cleaner as well.

[physguy]

Originally Posted by admactanium

you really need to discover quicksilver or launchbar for application launching.

I've gotten hooked on Spotlight doing this. command-space to open Spotlight, type the first few letters and hit return - its open. Also smart enough so the wor <return> launches 'Microsoft Word'.

[Daffy_Duck]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

...instead of putting the often-used ones in the Dock and using Spotlight to find the other ones or simply opening the Applications folder where apps *should* be.

Yes, this is the optimal way to launch applications. The problem is that some people are set in their ways and refuse to adapt to the changing technology.

Command+space c o n <enter>... and boom, console is open.

[dfiler]

Physguy, the 70s called and they want their interface back...

Put down the command line and slowly step away from your tab-completion.

[JupiterOne]

Originally Posted by coolfactor

Don't drag the Applications icon from the sidebar of a Finder window. That's just a shortcut itself. You need to drag the *real* Applications icon located at the root of your hard drive.

Aha! Thanks. THAT'S what I've been doing wrong.

[djames42]

Originally Posted by mstone

Nice thing about Unix is the terminal
find / -name "Safari.app" -print

if it is on the harddrive it'll find it.

m

True, but it'll take awhile. Much faster is:

code:

---

locate Safari.app

---

You'll get all the package contents, so you could then instead do something like:

code:

---

locate Safari.app | grep "Safari.app$"

---

...if you wanted to exclude the superfluous stuff.

[jragosta]

Originally Posted by mstone

You can drag your Applications Folder to the dock.

Yes, but that was far more useful under Tiger than Leopard. I wonder what idiot in Cupertino decided to get rid of hierarchial (popup) menus in the Dock.

[JohnnyKrz]

I can understand if you prefer to keep all your applications in one folder, but the nice thing about the mac is that they usually make things customizable for people who don't do things the same way you do.

I like to organize my folder into these groups: Applications, DAs (which shows hold old school I am), Internet, Games, and Utilities. Of course, I put my most used apps on the Dock, but when there was something obscure I needed, it was pretty easy to right-click the Applications menu and go to the sub-folder containing what I wanted before Leopard. In any case, I prefer not to be forced to do things any particular way. The more open the OS, the better.

[physguy]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Physguy, the 70s called and they want their interface back...

Put down the command line and slowly step away from your tab-completion.

Never. You'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

[anef]

Originally Posted by auxio

I still don't understand why people would rather organize their applications into separate folders in the Finder rather than just putting folders with links to applications in them onto the dock?

Perhaps, but I am not sure, because not everyone knows what a link is.
For the average Mac user, launching applications that do not stay on the dock is a pain.

- anef

[G-News]

Originally Posted by jragosta

Yes, but that was far more useful under Tiger than Leopard. I wonder what idiot in Cupertino decided to get rid of hierarchial (popup) menus in the Dock.

I've wondered about that too. I was looking foward to Stacks as an addition, a was demonstrated at WWDC (?), where you could just bundle any combination of files into a stack. That would have been very useful.
Getting rid of hierarchical popups from the dock however was bad.
I used to use that feature a lot on my old G4.

[strask]

Originally Posted by JohnnyKrz

I can understand if you prefer to keep all your applications in one folder, but the nice thing about the mac is that they usually make things customizable for people who don't do things the same way you do.

I like to organize my folder into these groups: Applications, DAs (which shows hold old school I am), Internet, Games, and Utilities. Of course, I put my most used apps on the Dock, but when there was something obscure I needed, it was pretty easy to right-click the Applications menu and go to the sub-folder containing what I wanted before Leopard. In any case, I prefer not to be forced to do things any particular way. The more open the OS, the better.

So why not put folders with this names in the side bar of the finder window and drag the app icons inside the folders?

[buckyreal]

Here is my doc organization scheme, and it works pretty darn well. I don't know if it's going to work in Leopard.

I keep almost no apps in my dock! Just the finder icon and the terminal.

The dock is pinned to the upper left, just under the Apple Menu.

All my frequent apps are in my Recent Items/Applications Folder, set to like 25 recent apps. Once they are launched they are in the dock... I pop open my Applications folder when I need an app I havent run in a while.

[Ireland]

My Eyes!!!!!

[donebylee]

Originally Posted by auxio

I still don't understand why people would rather organize their applications into separate folders in the Finder rather than just putting folders with links to applications in them onto the dock?

I mean, isn't a pain to have to launch Finder and navigate to different folders to launch applications all the time? As opposed to just clicking and holding a labeled dock folder, scrolling to the application you want to launch, and selecting it?

Originally Posted by kresh

I agree 100%. I keep all apps in the Applications folder so I can find the actual app file if I need to. I keep a folder on the Dock with links nested by function. It works great in Tiger (Stacks screws that up though).

<cough, cough>Adobe<cough, cough>subfolders for all apps<cough, cough>

That is why I created a folder of aliases for all my frequently used apps and put that on the dock, which I wouldn't have to do if... Oh well...

Still spotlight is the best way to access apps. And for the times that using the mouse is more convenient, I have my dock folder.

[kaiwai]

Originally Posted by auxio

Actually, I kinda blame Apple for this situation.

I mean, I'm a fairly advanced user and so I know about symbolic links and whatnot. I don't like using Finder to launch apps, but then I also don't like having 100 applications on my dock, each of which has an icon that's about 10x10 pixels large so that they can all fit on the screen (like my wife does). So I know well enough to create folders with symbolic links in them, and then drag them to the dock as a way to organize. But this isn't something well documented or intuitive to the average Mac user.

What would be nice is if Apple had something which automated this application organization process (aside from using Spotlight to search for apps -- which isn't the best way either if you don't want to use a keyboard just to launch an app).

Maybe a way to select dock icons and create a folder for them? Or even just a way to create a dock folder from the dock itself so that you can manually drag and drop dock icons into it.

Mate, why even install them else where, I've used Mac's for a total of 6 years and yet I've never felt the need to 'rage against the machine' and put my applications in some weird directory for shits and giggles.

[amigasteve]

Originally Posted by buckyreal

Here is my doc organization scheme, and it works pretty darn well. I don't know if it's going to work in Leopard.

I keep almost no apps in my dock! Just the finder icon and the terminal.

Tell me, would you still leave the Finder icon in the dock if it was possible to remove it? I just cannot find any use for Finder in the dock, all it does is open my home directory and quite frankly I do that very rarely (and even if I did I could put it there myself).

I honestly want to know why Finder is in the Dock - am I missing something?

[amigasteve]

I wonder if there's a fix in there for the weird permissions issues with windows shares?

[houseley]

Originally Posted by Ireland

My Eyes!!!!!

Well, your mother did warn you.

[lenny]

Originally Posted by amigasteve

Tell me, would you still leave the Finder icon in the dock if it was possible to remove it? I just cannot find any use for Finder in the dock, all it does is open my home directory and quite frankly I do that very rarely (and even if I did I could put it there myself).

I honestly want to know why Finder is in the Dock - am I missing something?

You can assign it to open any directory. It just opens home directory by default setting.

[Daffy_Duck]

Originally Posted by amigasteve

I wonder if there's a fix in there for the weird permissions issues with windows shares?

What would those be? I haven't had any problems.

[amigasteve]

Originally Posted by Daffy_Duck

What would those be? I haven't had any problems.

You can see some discussions here: http://www.macwindows.com/leopard.html#102907e

In my case I can see the shares but cannot write to them ("you do not have sufficient write pprivileges"). This only happens on my Leopard iMac, the Tiger Powerbook can write to the shares just fine.

[amigasteve]

Originally Posted by lenny

You can assign it to open any directory. It just opens home directory by default setting.

Thanks, but isn't that something I could easily do myself if I wanted it? Not only that, if I chose to open "Applications" for example the dock icon would look like my Applications folder. The finder icon gives no clue as to what it will open.

To put it another way, if I felt the need to have a dock icon to open a particular folder I can easily make it so. On the other hand if I don't need this functionality and my dock real estate is scarce I have no way to lose the icon.

OK, I can also use the finder icon to navigate between open finder windows, but for me Expose is just as convenient.

[auxio]

Originally Posted by kaiwai

Mate, why even install them else where, I've used Mac's for a total of 6 years and yet I've never felt the need to 'rage against the machine' and put my applications in some weird directory for shits and giggles.

If you had read what I wrote carefully, you'd see that I _don't_ put my applications in weird folders.

However, I also _don't_ want to have to navigate through 100 applications in the Applications folder in Finder to find the one I want to launch. That _really sucks_. I also don't want to have to use Spotlight to search for applications. I'm actually not a huge fan of Spotlight because it can bog your system to a crawl at times when it's indexing -- so I often just disable it when I'm working.

So, there are 2 options:

1) Drag all of your applications (or the Applications folder) over to the dock and launch using that. However, you still have the problem where you need to navigate through 100 applications to find the one you want.

2) Create a bunch of folders in your User directory labeled Audio, Video, Graphics, Office, Development, etc, etc. Then create symbolic links within those folders to the appropriate applications, then drag those folders to the dock. This doesn't require you to move any applications around at all.

I choose #2. However, it's a bit tedious to have to do it manually (and isn't intuitive for the average user). Apple should make this type of dock organization easier to do (or provide some sort of easy to use interface for it).

[Daffy_Duck]

Originally Posted by auxio

it can bog your system to a crawl at times when it's indexing -- so I often just disable it when I'm working.

It only does this once when you install the OS. After that, indexing is transparent.