One for the Unix heads...

the blue meaniethe blue meanie
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
The Blue Meanie recently discovered that OS X contains a number of Unix maintenance scripts, originally written for mainframes that were rarely switched off, even when no one was using them, and set to run in the small hours of the morning and at weekends, when no one is around. If, like me, you usually switch your machine off at the end of the day and when you not using it - for environmental reasons in my case, these scripts do not run and the maintenance routines are not carried out. My question to you is: do these scripts run if the machine is in sleep mode, or does it have to be fully on?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    Unfortunately not. It's important people realize this because log files can grow to epic sizes if the scripts aren't run from time to time.



    You can either do it yourself:

    [code]% su root

    [password]

    root# sh /etc/daily

    root# sh /etc/weekly

    root# sh /etc/monthly</pre><hr></blockquote>

    Or use one of the freeware apps like <a href="http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html"; target="_blank">MacJanitor</a>.



    [ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: Belle ]</p>
  • Reply 2 of 8
    the blue meaniethe blue meanie Posts: 405member
    Cheers, Belle. I actually already knew about MacJanitor - it was included in the cover CD of a UK Mac magazine, and I found out about those the mysterious maintenance scripts by reading the MacJ readme file.

    This is something Apple should really flag up or fix in a future version of OS X because a lot of people switch their machines off when they're not using them. In the meantime, can you recommend any decent beginners' guides to Unix?



    [ 03-04-2002: Message edited by: The Blue Meanie ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 8
    concentricityconcentricity Posts: 434member
    [quote]Originally posted by The Blue Meanie:

    <strong>Cheers, Belle. I actually already knew about MacJanitor - it was included in the cover CD of a UK Mac magazine, and I found out the mysterious maintenance scripts by reading the MacJ readme file.

    This is something Apple should really flag up or fix in a future version of OS X because a lot of people switch their machines off when they're not using them. In the meantime, can you recommend any decent beginners' guides to Unix?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    while not really a guide to unix, the articles at <a href="http://www.macosx.org"; target="_blank">MacOSX.org</a> are fairly well written, and cover "Unix for OS X" pretty well. Good luck!
  • Reply 4 of 8
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    [quote]Originally posted by The Blue Meanie:

    <strong>In the meantime, can you recommend any decent beginners' guides to Unix?</strong><hr></blockquote>

    For online help, I'd strongly recommend <a href="http://geek-girl.com/unix.html"; target="_blank">Geek-Girl</a>, which has a great list of resources.



    For books, Amazon has an interesting <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/137LYRKO2LFRX/qid=1015270821/sr=18-1/ref=sr_18_1/102-9672636-5235322"; target="_blank">article</a> on the subject.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    skipjackskipjack Posts: 263member
    This is the first of some articles which might directly address your question in more detail:





    <a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mac/2001/12/14/terminal_one.html"; target="_blank">O'Reilly books MacDevcenter</a>
  • Reply 6 of 8
    the blue meaniethe blue meanie Posts: 405member
    The Blue Meanie sez: thanks for the leads



    [ 03-06-2002: Message edited by: The Blue Meanie ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 8
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    are we still on this topic meanie?



  • Reply 8 of 8
    the blue meaniethe blue meanie Posts: 405member
    [quote]Originally posted by janitor:

    <strong>are we still on this topic meanie?



    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well, if I' m boring you, please feel free to seek your thrills elsewhere



    [ 03-07-2002: Message edited by: The Blue Meanie ]</p>
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