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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“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.”
Actually, right there you are claiming that this is a fault with the MacOS. This was your own fault, and was maybe partially contributed to by a 3rd party application, but it had nothing to do with the core MacOS. If you are going to install 3rd party tools to screw with your system, take responsibility for what happens when you do, don’t try to blame the operating system.
I’ll stop flooding the comments, but please note that if you follow the advice of any comment encouraging the “rm” command, you will screw up your computer again.
I’m with you man! I recently went through the same thing with my car - I veered off the highway and into a farmers field at 100 mph just because I wasn’t sure what would happen, and where I wanted to go was in that direction so it seemed the fast thing to do - and to my amazement, the car was totalled!!! So much for the saftey of our highways!!!! I’m gonna write a nasty letter.
(quote
(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.))
right on man
(PS: Please switch to Windows ... we don’t need you.)
Using a 3rd party application to peform maintenance, rather than using the utititilies that Apple provides is (1) asking for trouble, and (2) expecting Apple to protect you against every possible error. To be intuitive is not to be able to predict every idiotic mistake made by every user. To delete a folder that you nothing about was idiotic. To circumvent the safeguards by using a third-party app is to foolish, if you do not know the consequences. You screwed yourself. Stop blaming Apple and stop trying to do things with your computer that you are out of your league.
Why would you even dream of deleting or changing something you have no idea what it is first. You didn’t look to see what might be in the folder before you deleted it? Or maybe do some research to see if it was important? Thats like walking into a mall and seeing a glass of some unidentified liquid sitting in the middle of the floor and you were thirsty. Would you drink it or would you ask someone what it was before you drank it?
All I have to say is, OOPS… I hope that it got all fixed up, and next time, ask an expert before you go deleting random files…
Regards,
Ioannus de Vernai
http://blog.verani.net
My last post may have seemed a bit harsh. Let me rephrase a bit. Computers are,in actuality, far from fool-proof and far from use-friendly. Apple OSX, which in in my own experience is superior to most forms of Linux and all forms of Windows, remains an OS that gives great power to anyone with administrative privileges. This is a necessity in the world of computer OS’s and the ability to make changes must be available. Many third-party apps seem safe (e.g. Cocktail) but in reality tamper with parts of the OS that require a working knowledge of the OS. These sort of utilities seem safe and look good but they expose you to great potential harm. Administrative privileges convey an power to do all that you wish to do. Before taking advantage of these powers, you must familiarize yourself with what you are doing. No OS can predict every errant behavior of a user with administrative power. My advice it not use any app that you do not understand. To install a 3rd party utility to say that you understand what it does. Many of these apps can circumvent the “intuitiveness” that you seek. On the positive side, I applaud your desire to reach beyond the OS, itself. I can tell you that all of us who do so also know what it is like to reinstall the OS, due to mistakes. Nonetheless, OSX is a robust, secure, and reliable OS, to the degree that you allow it to be. Once you install a 3rd party app or start tinkering with things you do not understand, all of that becomes a wash.
A Mac user unfamiliar with /usr folder is a disgrace to rest of us. It is not a problem with your computer but rather a problem with your brain. Furthermore...I agree with jakyll, switch to windows.
Aw c’mon SidneySM, quit being such a killjoy =)
...maybe even switch to pen and paper if a MACINTOSH is too hard for you
Matthew,
While the comments don’t seem to agree with you I did like the article and look to forward to them. Why? because your views are from that of a recent switcher and that is something that’s hard for the rest of us to write about because we are well, have been using the Mac for a long time.
I know when I first switched I did some stupid stuff. I partitioned my Mac and had to ask on a forum how I did it and how to get rid of two Hard Drive icons showing up on my Desktop.
##Noob alert.
##I’m not going to try this, but…
Shouldn’t one have to authenticate before deleting this directory? I have to sudo to make changes to the /usr directory; or, is this something Cocktail does for you in one stroke?
At any rate, no one answered the question about restoring the original permissions on /usr.
Further, it’s obvious this guy was in over his head and did something stupid. I think folks should be charitable and realize that there is a large community of folks who will require some hand holding when they screw up like this. Then again, learning to get a thick skin around *nix folk is part of the game.
@pipj
Ah it depends on what you want in general. Yes OS X is a good operating system, but i prefer linux to it for the simple fact that it’s free as are all the apps for it. And if you know what your doing is more customizable than any OS out there. Granted linux is by far not the most reasonable choice for user friendly and how you define a better operating system is up to you. Plus the OS X kernel has a large portion of BSD code i hate how BSD operates.
Mitravelus
p.s. Yes i know i sound like a linux fanboy but for all those out there i have tried ALOT of operating systems and linux seems to be the most moldable out of all of them.