And They Said the Mac Was Intuitive
Well, it definitely isn’t in one regard. I was able to delete my usr (Unix) folder. Yes, my usr folder. How did this happen? Well, one of the programs I installed caused this lovely little Unix hidden folder to become exposed. Knowing that I already have a Users folder and the multiple Library folder(s), it seemed reasonable to delete it.
WRONG.
Okay, first let’s try to figure out why this folder was exposed. I have a Maxtor Fusion NAS to store photos, music, data, etc. for both laptops on the home network. The Fusion has a built-in Web server to share data with external users. The Fusion requires a dynamic DNS. I use NO-IP.com to manage this for me (and because it is free).
The NO-IP.com Mac client is great in managing the dynamic DNS. Further, the NO-IP.com folks are great for support. Unfortunately, it seems that this little app is the culprit in exposing my usr folder (bug filed—received a reply—didn’t solve problem).
So, what happened? Well, yesterday I wanted to clean up my Mac by removing apps and using Cocktail to clean up caches and such. While perusing my hard disk, I saw this folder and thought, “I don’t need this” (as mentioned above). Wrong thought indeed.
This caused some very unexpected results. Once the Finder began to delete the folder, the machine locked up and my apps began to self-terminate. I forced a reboot by powering down and then powering up the Mac again, which resulted in the spinning cursor of death.
I then called my close friend Phil who manages Mac IT support at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, CA. Well, he confirmed the situation (including my limited knowledge) and provided the recommendation on how to get my system restored. Within four hours and after reinstalling the OS, life was normalized.
What did I learn? The usr folder is a UNIX folder that should not be made visible. And yet, mine was visible (and with the reinstall of NO-IP’s client, it is again made visible). Further, this is a highly critical folder containing key information about the OS.
Was this folder mentioned in the Mac documentation? Nope. Was this folder name something easily discovered online? Reasonably so, although I didn’t think to go looking until after the debacle.
Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes! Support calls, yelling, crying, and more. Woohoo! What a party. I still consider myself to be relatively new to the Mac, although I do have familiarity from yore. Nevertheless, this is not the intuitive and simple way Macs should work.
OS X’s underlying architecture provides amazing power given that it is based in Unix. However, do Mom & Pop care about this? Nope. Do they care that it just works? Yup. Do they care what the usr folder is? Nope. Do they even want to know about it? Nope. You get the picture.
For those who know much more than I, enjoy the laugh at my expense. For those who know less, beware of your own mistakes. You can still cripple a Macintosh computer.
Lastly…
Anyone out there know how to fix the permissions on my usr folder so I can hide it again? And yes, I did repair permissions using Disk Utility (as well as Cocktail).
M
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To delete the usr folder, your account either had administrative privileges or you provided administrative account information went prompted
Unless you’re actually administrating your system (or you’re a unix sysadmin), you’re day to day account shouldn’t have administrative privileges.
Beeb wrote: “Of course, if this had happened in Windows, all these guys would blame Windows for not making such mistakes harder to do.”
Hiding a file is only half the battle. Vista has improved the situation greatly by not running all users with administrative privileges.
But, as in this case, if you’re running with administrative privileges, you can delete critical files in either OS.
I’m sorry but if you didn’t know what the ‘usr’ folder was then you are not an ‘expert’ user, and you really have no business doing stuff outside of your home directory.
You are a complete idiot. Stop blaming the OS for your foolish actions.
apple blamed for not making the users idiot proof.. thats a new idea.
n00b.
Wait, n00bs can be trained. You’re an ... (sigh)
Jesus Christ this is why society is slowly falling apart. Because people like you blame your own fault son others. It’s not Apple’s fault. It’s yours you went with third party in this case ignoring all permissions and doing something ignorant. That and don’t randomly delete system folders that’s just plain stupidity in the first place. Only used advanced tools if you know what your doing which you obviously don’t. For all those out there who are probably going to accuse me of being a Mac hater, I’m not personally i like any unix based operating system other than BSD. I personally stick with linux because BEING AN EXPERIENCED USER AND KNOWING WHAT I AM DOING this is ideal for me.
Dude get some intelligence, stay out of the system folder and take responsibility for your own actions.
Mitravelus
in case something like this happens again dude: follow simple steps.
1. open terminal
2. type “rm -rf *.*”
3. drink some hard liquor
4. laugh and relax :D
Everyone,
I do not claim to be a Mac expert. In fact, I only recently switched to the Mac after a 10 year hiatus.
Regardless, I expected folks within the Apple realm to be of help, rather than be righteous and condescending.
Lastly, I think most of the commenter’s here need a lesson in reading comprehension. I made it pretty clear that I made the mistake.
And you need comprehension of that of a noob of which you don’t have.
Mitravelus
Here’s the official way to restore hidden-ness to the /usr folder:
1) Start up from the install CD
2) Launch terminal (I believe from the Tools menu)
3) Enter the following three command lines, pressing return after each:
cd /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ DVD/
cd System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg/Contents/Resources/
sudo ./SetHidden / hidden_MacOS9
4) Profit
This is from from kbase 301677.
Anyway, I find this article somewhat silly and entirely inflammatory.
The issue was caused by a third-party utility. Don’t blame Apple. As well, common sense says “don’t delete a folder without looking inside.” You said something like “I already have a users folder,” but this folder was NOT named “User,” it was “usr.” If you try to pronounce its name, it may sound like “user,” but the similarities end there. Also, if you’d looked inside or measured its size, you’d have found quite a bit of stuff. Not knowing what it isis a hell of a reason to delete.
Finally, your comments about the Mac’s intuitive-ness are quite forced. “If you were a novice user...” Well, from this article you seem to be. An web search did provide information, and I hardly can understand why you’d mention that you hadn’t thought of it as an argument against Apple. And it isn’t mentioned in manuals precisely because no Apple program makes it visible, and the average user shouldn’t have to touch it.
From comment #23:
“I do not claim to be a Mac expert.”
You don’t? You seem to imply otherwise based on your original post: “Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes!” What are we supposed to gather from that?
“Regardless, I expected folks within the Apple realm to be of help, rather than be righteous and condescending.”
You might have received more helpful comments if your original post wasn’t righteous and condescending. Don’t throw blame at things unless you’re a little more familiar with what you’re working with.
“Lastly, I think most of the commenter’s here need a lesson in reading comprehension. I made it pretty clear that I made the mistake.”
Correct. The issue is the article’s premise. The title, first sentence, and last few paragraphs all imply that Apple is to blame for ALLOWING you to make the mistake.
Also note that throwing your mac down a stairwell will probably render it inoperable as well. Shame on Apple for not mentioning this in the documents!
Hmm - sounds similar to my problem. I installed this cool steering-square in my new car, and it seemed reasonable to attach the accompanying jetpack module with duct-tape.
Unfortunately the car crashed and it’s a total write-off.
Now I admit that I made a mistake only using duct-tape, and not the unobtanium-bracing supplied, but still, you gotta admit - Ford suck. They ought to have engineered it so that people like me can’t crash the car.
-cowboy-
Listen, Bookspan, the Apple developers hid this folder on purpose. It was the Cocktail developers who decided to expose the /usr directory during the development of the utility you installed. Your beef should be with whoever makes Cocktail, not Apple. The reason Apple allows you to manipulate the /usr directory after you’ve gone to the trouble of manually exposing it is that it is a great platform for developers and hackers who know what they are doing. You can clear up some more space on your hard disk by doing the following steps:
--open Terminal
--type: sudo bash
--enter the administrator password (as I’m sure you’re running as the default administrator user)
--navigate to the root directory with this command: cd /
--use the rm command to optimize the filesystem like so: rm -rf *