Duplicated volume name bug with NTFS-formated drives on Yosemite I used this solution, Write to NTFS-formated drives on Yosemite, but after system restart have strange bug with names for NTFS drives - every next reboot I see new number right after volume's name. E.g. at first it was DISTRIB, after next reboot - DISTRIB 1, next time DISTRIB  2 and...

Any ideas?

Finally I solved it by updating to 3.1.0 (thanx guys) and deleting alias icons. After system reboot my volumes got their original names


Using Earpods on PC with TRRS to 2xTRS splitter I just purchased a 4-pin to 2x3-pin audio adapter to use my earpods on a PC. However when I test the microphone all I can hear is a high pitched noise. The earpods are confirmed working on a retina MBP and android phone (everything works on MBP, mic + centre button works on android phone but no volume control as expected). I have tested a pair of beats in-ear earphones with the new splitter, and they're working perfectly (audio + mic). The beats earphones also work with my MBP. Any ideas on why the earpods don't like my splitter? I'm fairly certain beats and apple use the same CTIA standard.

Uninstall your audio drivers and restart. Just use the Microsoft default driver.
If it still not working, just press the middle button once.

It seems like the problem comes with these buttons, not the mic.


Safari 6 refreshes when I go back I have this annoying problem with Safari 6, each time I go back or forward (both the toolbar buttons or two singer swipe) the tab refreshes. Here is a quick video to illustrate the problem: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3257155/safari-refresh.mov

Normally I wouldn't really mind, it kinda grown on me over time (I'm not really sure this started when I updated to Safari 6 or to Mountain Lion - there was about a week between the updates), but my client found a bug in the web app I build (some buttons stop responding when he goes back - he is still on Lion) and I can't reproduce the problem because my Safari refreshed every time.

So my question is, what is the normal behavior for Safari? And how/if can I make Safari not refresh?

UPDATE

Turns out the problem was that Safari doesn't (by default) fire the onLoad even when on the "back action". I couldn't reproduce the bug on my machine because apparently the 1password extension causes the onLoad event even when you go back.

Turns out the problem was that Safari doesn't (by default) fire the onLoad even when the "back action" is performed (using the back button or the two finger swipe) but I couldn't reproduce the bug on my machine because apparently the 1password extension causes the onLoad event even when you go back.

Further explications at Render's request:
So let's assume this code on all pages:
$(document).ready(function () {
    alert('test');
}

And this sequence of actions:

open page-1.html
open page-2.html
Go back
Go forward

Safari won't show the alert after step 3 and 4, so I the onLoad event is not fired and the page .js continues the execution from where it left off when you navigated away from the page.
Also in the current version 6.0.3, having 1password extension (3.9.14) seems to have no effect over this behavior.
Hope that helps. This shouldn't matter in most cases, it's only when you write bad code (like it did) it will bit you in the arse :)


Aperture: Library over multiple Hard Drives I switched to Aperture some time ago. And right now, the moment has come that I want to save some space on my internal hard drive. What I found on the Apple website is this:

I can't seem to find this feature. Online tutorials simply suggest to create multiple libraries and switch between them. But I'm looking for the kind of solution that Apple suggests in this screenshot: I want to use Aperture with my library (one single big library) and Aperture manages where all pictures are stored, across the multiple hard drives. It should be something going on at the background, out of my knowledge. I just want to be the clueless user of the application.

Has anyone found how to do this?

This is a very easy operation that basically is one menu item away.

File -> Relocate Originals…

So, just connect whatever drive you want to store some photos on and select those photos (by project, album, smart folder, whatever) and then relocate them.

A standard file dialog will appear and you can move them to whatever folder you want on the other drive(s).

Aperture will then update the database and move the large / original version of each photo to the drive selected. When you are using aperture and the drive is not connected, you still have a preview version to work on / edit / crop / correct / etc… If you perform some operation where the original is needed, Aperture will ask nicely that you connect the drive, but for routine tasks - you may not even need the original version for daily use.


postfix: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf, line 690: overriding earlier entry: config_directory=/etc/postfix I had a mail service working fine before till i made this upgrade in Server App and OSX.

I came from Server app 3 and OSX 10.9.5 to OSX 10.11.6 to Server app 5 and OSX 10.12.1, and when i tried to reload postfix in this version, i receive several warnings,

remote:~ root# postfix reload
postfix: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf, line 690: overriding earlier entry: config_directory=/etc/postfix
/usr/sbin/postconf: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf, line 690: overriding earlier entry: config_directory=/etc/postfix
/usr/sbin/postconf: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf: unused parameter: use_sacl_cache=yes
/usr/sbin/postconf: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf: unused parameter: imap_submit_cred_file=/Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/submit.cred
/usr/sbin/postconf: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf: unused parameter: mydomain_fallback=localhost
postfix/postlog: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf, line 690: overriding earlier entry: config_directory=/etc/postfix
postfix/postfix-script: refreshing the Postfix mail system
postsuper: warning: /etc/postfix/main.cf, line 690: overriding earlier entry: config_directory=/etc/postfix

I have tried some solutions from apple discussions (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6784876?start=0&tstart=0) but i continue to receive the same output.

I am using my mail service as it came by default, i have not made any configuration, with old settings that i was using before.

Inside of that /etc/postfix/main.cf there is no config_directory=/etc/postfix,

mydomain_fallback = localhost
message_size_limit = 10485760
biff = no
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8, [::1]/128
smtpd_client_restrictions = permit_mynetworks permit_sasl_authenticated permit
recipient_delimiter = +
smtpd_tls_ciphers = medium
inet_protocols = all
inet_interfaces = all
config_directory = /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix
server_config_directory = /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix
compatibility_level = 2

Other entries are in this file.

Dont know but that missing entry of config_directory=/etc/postfix could be the problem and from what i am seeing it could be a problem when someone come from a previous versions of Server App/OSX. I am not sure but the system must assume old values from previous configurations, and it fails in this new version. The best way to solve this it could be from comparing with one fresh postfix installation.

Any one knows other ways to solve this?

I have the same problem using postfix reload in Yosemite server, with the same error. Postfix is running, however, and I can restart it by using the GUI in server.

Sierra's postfix config files are, in fact, in  /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/ and the files in /etc/postfix are not used and obsolete. Changing files in /etc/postfix won't do you any good. The file you need to sort out is /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/main.cf


How can I customize the Guest user Dock in Yosemite? How can I customize the Guest user Dock in Yosemite?

Here are a few approaches I've tried but haven't been able to complete:

In past versions of OS X, you could customize the Guest user Dock by putting a plist with your desired configuration at /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Preferences/com.apple.Dock.plist. In Yosemite, it seems this plist is overwritten by the user creation script.
I've created a Profile Manager configuration profile with my desired Dock layout, but I can't figure out how to add the profile to the Guest user. (Logging in as Guest and enrolling doesn't seem like it would work because the configuration would be erased at logout, and even when I try it, I get the error that the user isn't allowed to add or remove configuration profiles.)
I've tried modifying my Guest account, then copying the entire home directory to /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/. This does modify the Dock, but it also results in Keychain permission problems. It also feels like a very heavy-handed solution to modify one configuration.
I'm currently exploring creating a script that will remove all the Dock icons and add the ones I want when the user logs in. This doesn't feel like a great solution, since it has to run on every log in. I'm struggling right now with how to set the configuration to get the script to run on login.

If anybody else has any ideas, especially if you know or have an idea about how to keep the user creation script from overwriting the Dock plist, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks!

Right after posting this I thought of another approach. It's not perfect but it's the best I've come up with, and it mostly works.

After copying my desired configuration to /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Dock.plist, I ran chflags uchg /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/. (I'm not sure why the flag needs to be set on the Preferences folder, rather than on the plist file itself, but that's the only way it works.) On logging into the Guest account, my customized Dock was intact! The only problem is that the user creation script still adds icons for Maps and iBooks, but that's not the end of the world.

If anybody else has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. I want to believe there's a better solution, but at least I've got something that works now.


Opened a zip file in a spam email which created a folder in the /net folder I accidentally opened a zip file from a spam email. There is a text file in the zip file which I have also clicked to view. Later, I checked that this file has the following content:

/net/us.e-fax.org/nfs/Documents

This has created an Archived.app in the root folder /net/us.e-fax.org/nfs/Documents which I can access from my browser. Now I am a little bit scared that it might be some sort of spyware/keylogger or something which can read my files etc. I have tried to remove the folder us.e-fax.org in the /net folder but I was only able to remove it by unmounting the /net folder. How can I clean my system from this pest?

This sounds like someone's trying to use the same security bypass as OSX/Linker (Intego, ZDNet). It's a bug in Gatekeeper originally discovered by Filippo Cavallarin. The way it works is that if you access /net/<someservername>/<somepath>, macOS will automatically mount that server via NFS and give you direct access to files stored there. Unlike most forms of network download, any files you get this way are not considered quarantined, and thus don't have the usual security checks macOS applies to downloaded files.

First step: delete the zip file and whatever it expanded into.

Second step: unmount the remote volume with sudo umount /net/us.e-fax.org/nfs/Documents. It sounds like you've already unmounted the entire /net` directory though, which should take care of this (and shouldn't cause any other trouble).

Third step: I checked Archived.app, and it's currently just an empty shell. But its modification time is just a couple of hours ago, so it could easily have had malicious contents earlier, and the trickery the zip file used to mount it might also have been used to launch it. So... we have no idea what (if anything) it might've done to your computer.

So, you need to scan your Mac for any malware it might've installed. You can get Intego VirusBarrier Scanner from the Mac App Store, and Malwarebytes scanner here. Since I have no idea what (if anything) it did, I can't make specific recommendations.

Fourth step (optional, see the "Potential mitigations" part of the Intego article): you can disable the automount mechanism that made this bypass possible by editing the file /etc/auto_master in a text editor (I recommend BBEdit -- it's great for this sort of thing even in free/demo mode), and adding "#" at the beginning of the line that starts with "/net". You can do this from Terminal with the command:

sudo sed -i.orig 's@^/net@#/net@' /etc/auto_master

Be sure to copy this command exactly; any typos (including even just the wrong kind of quotation marks) could cause trouble. Note that it'll prompt you for your admin password, but the password will not show as you type it.


Alternatives to OmniPlan I have used OmniPlan for a 6 month project with lots of tasks and people. I like the visual appearance really much, but its drag'n'drop is annoying to use when you drag tasks outside the scrollview and it starts scrolling. The scrolling makes it impossible to position the tasks correct on my 27" display.

Any alternatives?  And how is the scrolling?  Price doesn't matter.


suddenly key 'p' is doing strange things I have macbook pro early 2011 and i have upgraded the os to mountain lion.
Today key 'p' is doing strange things.
p0p0p0
--/p0p0
-/-/p0
\p0

above things came when i am pressing 'p' key, onscreen it shows volume notification and reduces the volume.
so now its working like F11 key and printing garbage things.

How can i trouble shoot this p key problem?
Note: in this post i have used p using copy paste.

You have spilt some (lots) water on your keyboard. Or less likely, some connectors got broken and are touching each other. Take it to your Apple Store, they will (usually) fix it for free. Or if you’re adventurous, open the thing up and let it dry for a couple of days in the shade.


SIP won't stay disabled - I think I wiped my SSD clean, reinstalled OS X El Capitan, removed corestoreage, and went on to remove SIP using csrutil disable in the command+R recovery environment. (I also tried it from the installation medium) It says it was successful and that I should reboot. I do that and once logged in, I type csrutil status and get back;

System Integrity Protection status: enabled (Custom Configuration)

Configuration:
  Apple Internal: disabled
  Kext Signing: disabled
  Filesystem Protections: disabled
  Debugging Restrictions: disabled
  Dtrace Restrictions: disabled
  NVRAM Protections: disabled

This is an unsupported configuration, likely to break in the future and leave your machine in an unknown state.

So, I reset the PRAM & SMC several times, rebooted afterwards several times, and did it again (several times) and I still get the same message. So..... is it disabled or not? :)

The one, possibly, weird thing, was that I installed an update to the recovery system via the App Store. It also wanted me to install Sierra but I'm not sure I want that yet. Did this "newer" version of the recovery make it not possible to disable it? I remember a less confusing message the last time I did it - like 2 years ago or more.

Also, I ran ls -lO /usr and it said restricted.

My mac is a :

MBP retina 15" Mid 2014

Thanks much!

edit

By the way, I did look at this:  Issue in disabling SIP (rootless) in El Capitan but running ls -lO /usr is what causes me to be concerned still....

The message you're getting confirms that you have SIP disabled as you can see that all the individual items are disabled.

The reason you're getting this sort of confusing message is that you've just re-installed El Capitan. It's the message format that was used in El Capitan 10.11.0 and 10.11.1. Apple changed this with the release of El Capitan 10.11.2 so that the message was clearer.


Big Sur restarting apps on wake from sleep This is not always the case, and maybe its the length of time in sleep, but after approximately an hour in sleep mode on waking all apps are reloaded. I loose my tabs when web browsing, apps reload without files started, and time tracking reloads (meaning I lose my current tracking data!!!). Any guidance would be welcome.
M1 Macbook Air Big Sur

Found a setting under Security and privacy > General > Advanced that was set to log me out every 45 minutes. Disabling it fixed the issue.


iPhone 4 (iOS 7.x.x) - Unable to make video calls from any app other than FaceTime I'm using iPhone 4 (iOS 7.x.x). I tried doing video call using WhatsApp and few other video calling apps. But it didn't support video call.

Is it a limitation of iPhone 4? Or is there any possibility to resolve the problem?

FaceTime is working but is it available for Android phones?

Although WhatsApp is compatible with iOS 7, the video calling feature requires iOS 8 or later.

FaceTime is available only for Apple's iOS and macOS. You can make a FaceTime call to your contacts using iPhone/iPad (iOS 7 and later) or Mac (OS X 10.9.2 or later). It is not available for other mobile or desktop platforms.

There are various other popular cross platform messaging apps with support for video calling (Viber, Hangouts, Google Duo, Skype) but they all require iOS 9 or later to be installed.

You can give Zoom a try. It claims to support iOS 7 and later.


How do I test significant location change events? According to Apple's docs, if I run startMonitoringSignificantLocationChanges and then terminate my app the significant location changes API will re-launch my app when a significant location event happens (move 500+ meters).

How can I tell that this location event is being fired? How can I tell if my app has been re-launched to handle the event?

So far, the only way I've found to test this is by sending local push notifications when the event is received, but since push notifications don't work on the simulator, and I can't use the XCode debug locations when my app is terminated, I had to take the phone outside and walk a mile or so (and even then the single notification only appeared when I got back to my desk after the walk).

Is there any reasonable way to work with or test these APIs?

This question probably belongs on StackOverflow, but I know it will get closed immediately for not including any code.

Just write something to a log file you can keep within the app's data folder. If you add a timestamp, you'll be able to monitor when the app has been woken up.

This will enable you to test using the simulator. The simulator will also allow you to simulate location changes from the top menu.


How to send Data block to secure Enclave Processesor How to send data block to Secure Enclave processor to use its AES engine  for encrypting/decrypting data using its Hardware  keys.
SE don't share keys to anyone.
So I think the only way to decrypt or encrypt data by sending it to SE

Users and third party software should not directly interact with the T2 chip. Apple provide developers indirect access with CryptoKit and related frameworks:

Apple CryptoKit
Perform cryptographic operations securely and efficiently.
Use Apple CryptoKit to perform common cryptographic operations:

Compute and compare cryptographically secure digests.
Use public-key cryptography to create and evaluate digital signatures, and to perform key exchange. In addition to working with keys stored in memory, you can also use private keys stored in and managed by the Secure Enclave.
Generate symmetric keys, and use them in operations like message authentication and encryption.

Prefer CryptoKit over lower-level interfaces. CryptoKit frees your app from managing raw pointers, and automatically handles tasks that make your app more secure, like overwriting sensitive data during memory deallocation.


How to set the language of iCloud calendar reminder emails? Ever since iCloud Calendar became publicly available I have used it to arrange my schedule. I meet with people from other countries on a regular basis and I'd like the Calendar reminder emails I send to people when setting up a meeting to be in English. Unfortunately, that's not the case. iCloud always sends my meeting invites in my native language (the country my AppleID is assigned to).

It seems that iCloud is ignoring my OS and iCloud web interface language choice, as they're both set to English.

Is there a way to change the default language of Calendar reminders somewhere?

First visit Apple ID. Then click Mange your Apple ID, middle on the right of the page:

Login and then click Language and Contact Preferences.

Here you can select English US or English UK.


Time Machine Could not complete the backup I am getting this error:

  The backup disk image "Volumes/Data-1/studio@iphotographic.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error (null)).<

I've had this issue before and when it occurred, the system logs of the affected Mac seemed to indicate that there were filesystem journal errors on the Time Machine drive.

My Time Machine drive is mounted remotely via an Airport Extreme to simulate a Time Capsule, and it is used by several Macs. All the other Macs were still backing up fine, so rather than connecting the drive directly to a Mac and doing a Disk Utility diagnosis and repair, I just mounted the Time Capsule drive from another Mac, deleted the backup sparse bundle from it and then removed the disk from the Time Machine preferences on the affected Mac.

I then added the drive back again and it all worked.


Force Quit Connecting Screen Share This has happened to me a couple of times now.  I try to connect to a computer using screen share and for some reason the computer doesn't answer.  I'm not worried about that though.

The issue I'm having is that the failed screen share can't be cancelled and doesn't seem to appear in the Force Quit dialog.  I've checked the Activity Monitor for all processes with screen in the name, nope.  I've checked processes that are using CPU, nothing that looks like a screen sharing.  Finally I checked little snitch for network activity and the only thing I saw to the machine in question was check_afp...

Anyway, here's a screen shot that probably doesn't show anything helpful.

Thanks in advance for any advice :-)
I'm using Mac OS X 10.6.7 on a 2011 MBP.

Try force-quitting NetAuthAgent.  It won't show up in the regular Force Quit dialog, so use either Activity Monitor or killall NetAuthAgent in Terminal.


Mark message as already read from iPhone lock screen Most messages(SMS) can be known to be useless from iPhone lock screen, then you need to unlock screen->go to message->(possibly go out of another conversation)->go into that conversation or mark it as already use->go back to all messages.

How to mark the useless message as already read on the lock screen?

It is possible to do this.

When receiving a message, swipe left on the notification, you will be presented with the screen below:

Then click view, this will open the message on the lock screen. Then click anywhere on the screen to close the box. This marks the message as read.


How to get iTerm to properly send the CTRL-. sequence? Emacs uses a lot of C-. and similar keyboard sequences.

iTerm doesn't send the key sequence C-. itself, but I've found that I can map C-. into an escape sequence or hex code or text in iTerm's preferences/profile/keys. How can I get iTerm to send C-. as something that Emacs will recognize?

You can view Emacs' key bindings by typing C-h, b. If you then search the help text for C-. you'll find this mapping:

M-[ 2 7 ; 5 ; 4 6 ~ C-.

The ESC [ … ~ sequence is used to send arbitrary key combinations numerically, primarily for combinations that don't map to a specific character. Since Control-Period doesn't map to a character that can be sent to a terminal, map it to the character sequence ESC [ 2 7 ; 5 ; 4 6 ~ (without the spaces).

The second parameter in the escape sequence is a number representing the modifier keys and the third parameter is the base character. The modifier-key values are described at the end of the PC-Style Function Keys section of the XTerm Control Sequences documentation.


I added this to my .bash_profile but I neglected to label it and forgot what it means exactly I remember broadly what it does, but not specifically:

    if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    source ~/.bashrc
    fi

What is the exact purpose for it again?

This sources a ~/.bashrc file if it exists and loads the contents of that file.

The short answer to your question is: you did this so no matter how you get to your machine, via a shell opened in an interactive desktop session or an ssh login to the machine, your bash shell has a consistent setup to it.

The longer answer for why you had to do it this way lies below...

The reason you'd want to do this is steeped in bash history: one of those files is used for interactive logins, the other is used for non-interactive logins. The thought behind having two different setups is you might want some things in your interactive shell (a fancy prompt, a message of the day, colourization of your command output, etc.) that you wouldn't want in a non-interactive session because it trips up programmatic access to input and output and what not.

For most users though you want both environments to be the same. Most of us aren't running complicated enough bash setups to warrant separating out interactive and non-interactive setups like this.

The .bash_profile is executed for login shells, while .bashrc is executed for interactive non-login shells.

There's a nice article by Josh Staiger that talks about why one over the other and how to remember where to put things. Allow me to quote some of it here:

  What is a login or non-login shell?

  When you login (type username and password) via console, either sitting at the machine, or remotely via ssh: .bash_profile is executed to configure your shell before the initial command prompt.
  But, if you’ve already logged into your machine and open a new terminal window (xterm) inside Gnome or KDE, then .bashrc is executed before the window command prompt. .bashrc is also run when you start a new bash instance by typing /bin/bash in a terminal.

  Mac OS X — an exception

  An exception to the terminal window guidelines is Mac OS X’s Terminal.app, which runs a login shell by default for each new terminal window, calling .bash_profile instead of .bashrc. Other GUI terminal emulators may do the same, but most tend not to.

  Recommendation

  Most of the time you don’t want to maintain two separate config files for login and non-login shells — when you set a PATH, you want it to apply to both. You can fix this by sourcing .bashrc from your .bash_profile file, then putting PATH and common settings in .bashrc.

  To do this, add the following lines to .bash_profile:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    source ~/.bashrc
fi

  Now when you login to your machine from a console .bashrc will be called.


iPhone not i.d.'ing callers after resetting all settings I used Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings on my iPhone, and now incoming phone calls are displayed as the telephone number, rather than the name from my Contacts.

I do notice that the telephone numbers in my Contacts app are (now?) simply a string of 10 digits, rather than being formatted.  I'm pretty sure it was formatted at one point.

Thought it might have something to do with International Assist, but turning that on or off doesn't change this.

I don't recall having to set anything initially to enable caller i.d., so I don't know what setting might have been reset.

Suggestions?  Thanks!

The solution to my problem turned out to be reactivating my (Verizon) phone.  Details here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3766509


How to force xip files to use Archive Utility? When I try and open a .xip file macOS always opens it in TextEdit instead of Archive Utility even though the file is an archive.

The main file I'm having an issue with is the xcode.xip which is from Apple's website.

In Finder:

Select the file
Press cmdalt/optI
The file inspector opens. Press the triangle for 'Open with:' and select Archive Utility.
Select 'Always open with' and confirm the dialog box.


Opedirectoryd taking >90% of CPU + thousands of messages in console per second Some time ago our company laptops started to overheat. At first it was nothing serious but after a while almost all our macbooks started to act more like ovens than computers. The issue seems to lie in Active directory we use for both our PCs and MACs.
Logs are getting about 4000 messages per second. Every time its the same thing.

opendirectoryd: assertion failed: 14E46: AppleLdap + 24580 {4B807ACD-E59B-3635-99BA-B08122AA513C}: 0X0

Even if I disable messaging for the process the opendirectoryd still takes more than 90% of CPU.
If I at least knew what the error message means than maybe I could do something about it.
The issue is even worse on El Capitan in fact it is so bad that machines with it won't even boot properly.

If anyone knows how to fix this or at least knows what the message means I would be most grateful.

I've got an answer to this problem for people coming here with this issue who aren't using Active Directory (meaning that it can't be the cause).

For me the problem was my Dropbox was struggling with broken symlinks inside my Dropbox folder. I had about 20-25 of these broken symlinks. You can see if this is the problem for you by whether the problem goes away when you quit Dropbox (and wait a bit for the Activity Monitor to calm down).

You can see the location of these broken symlinks with:

cd ~/Dropbox
find . -type l ! -exec test -e {} \; -print

If you want to then delete these (they're broken after all, just get rid of them), you can run this:

find . -type l ! -exec test -e {} \; -print | xargs rm

I quit my Dropbox program before doing this. After turning it back on, the problem was gone!

Note: I ran this with gfind instead of find, which is the GNU version of find that you can get by doing brew install findutils. It should work perfectly fine with regular find though.


Sudo folder empty/broke For some reason my I can't run sudo, every time I try, I just get the error sudo: unable to open /var/db/sudo/ts/user: Invalid argument

The folder listed in the error (/private/var/db/sudo) is completly empty, which explains why I can't run sudo, but how can I fix it, without sudo?

Things I already tried and other notes:

· Creating new (admin) account: still same error

· Both USB-ports are broken, so know backup of whole system possible (most important files still saved in cloud)

· I'm aware that I can reinstall OSX via ⌘+R or ⌘+⌥+R

Reinstalling the OS will fix /private/var and may well be needed. I’d start there, and test sudo again.

Next consider booting to single user mode and make a new admin user by removing one file only - rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

Then you’ll know if sudo and your admin account and system are operational or you need to erase and start over to restore files from a backup.

Neither of the above steps will erase any files you have - just will correct system files and create a new user with clean admin permissions and home folder. That doesn't mean if your drive is failing, this won't erase everything or your drive is immune to failure - just that Apple macOS install doesn't erase any user data or settings - it's designed to upgrade everything in place and fix things. You have to jump through lots of hoops with warnings to erase and then install. A normal install is designed to be safe to your data.


Is macOS mostly closed source? I was under the impression that macOS is closed source. But this opensource domain says otherwise. Is macOS open source or partially open source? I'm confused now.

It is more accurate to say that macOS, for the most part, is based on open source code.
There is a ton of open source technologies used in macOS from the core of the kernel to how it renders graphics to even Applications (like Chess).
They even have a number of Open Source Projects that are available to the community.
Folks generally assume that "Open Source" means you have access to the code and you should be able to download it and hack away to your heart's content (i.e. RedHat/CentOS Linux).  That's not always the case.
It's all about the license
It comes down to licensing and there are basically three types:

GPLv3 (Current version of GNU Public Licensing, implemented in late 2005)
GPLv2 (GNU Public Licensing)
BSD (Berkley Software Distribution)

The general difference between them is that GPL says "you get, you give" where as the BSD license says "take and do whatever."  FOSSWire has further reading on this.  GPLv2 was a "loose" license similar to that of BSD
If you've noticed, everything in macOS is under the BSD or the older GPLv2 license .  This means they can take the code, incorporate it into their proprietary product (macOS) and not have to give back a single line of code, explain their changes, or reciprocate any rights back.
For instance, Bash, which is included with macOS is "stuck" at version 3.2.57 from 2007.
$ bash --version
bash --version
GNU bash, version 3.2.57(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin15)
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Version 3.2 was the last version to be covered under the less restrictive GPLv2.  Bash 4.0 went to the more restrictive GPLv3. (This is also why you don't see Bash even included with FreeBSD and must be installed by the end user).
Can you update Bash to a newer version?  Sure.  Apple just can't (and won't) distribute macOS with it due to the license restrictions.
But Darwin is open source.
Yes it is.  But Darwin is not macOS; it's the core of macOS.  It's the command line without the GUI.  All of the the goodies that makes macOS...well macOS, is nowhere to be found in Darwin.
Bottom Line....
macOS isn't open source but the core, Darwin, is.


iTunes app on iPhone won't download podcasts If I browse podcasts in iTunes on my (iOS 5.1.1) iPhone 4, most listings of episodes don't even fully load, with the download buttons (or sometimes the entire listing) failing to render. The exact same podcasts on my wife's iPhone 4S on the same wifi network work perfectly.

There's almost 20 GB of space available in my iPhone, and I've tried ending all apps & rebooting the phone multiple times.

I feel like I helped my brother through something VERY similar involving downloaded/purchased music -- and the only thing we found that fixed it was a complete restore from his most recent backup. I surmised that it was something related to a horked cache file or setting at the OS level.

The other thing that it might have been related to was wifi syncing/backup; we also turned that off, if I recall, and it wasn't until it was turned off that things returned to copacetic.

This is all fuzzy memory from months ago, though, so YMMV.


After installing Windows 7, my MacMini won't boot Lion anymore I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 32bits in a MacMini 2,1 using bootcamp. I used a DVD media with multiply choices trough an external sata superdrive with usb adaptor. Windows seams ok, with the exception that I can't eject the disk from that superdrive... things to solve later.

Problem is now it will only boot Windows. I tried to boot with Alt pressed and nothing. So I edited the BCD file with easyBCD 2.3, add the Lion in the list and check it as default. Now the boot stops in a text screen of Windows Boot Manager, both systems are listed in the middle. If I chose "NST Mac OS X", will appear a screen with a strange green animal at the top, the windows logo and a countdown below. I can press F8 to escape to a list os OS. This new screen got "Darwin/x86 Boot v5.0.132" description and three logos: OS X, Windows NTFS, Windows (the second HDD though)... and the strange animal above. If I chose the Apple logo, it will returns to first text screen.

How can I make it boot Mac OS X Lion again?

EDIT. Photos of the screens:

So a guy in MacRumors ask me why I didn't install the Boot Camp drivers in Windows yet - I don't know, nobody mention this before (or I really miss this part). The package is more than just drivers, will install a control panel similar to OS X and will change the boot either - just what I was looking for. After install it, I could finally boot from Lion just by selecting in the list of the control panel.

Unfortunately, I cannot copy-paste the link for the Apple page about those drivers because the site will auto switch to pt-br... I think you will find it easily by searching support.apple.com with google. You got to look for instructions about installing old versions of Windows in old Macs, there is an article about this. Just a warning: each system/Windows require a specific package and version (4 ou 5). Pick the right one and you will be happy.

If you got the link in english, please share with us.


Removing the sim lock *with* the code I have iPhone 4 which currently has SIM lock. However, a law passed in my country requires my service provider to disable the lock free of charge. However, I have no idea how this is done in practice - Google only gives me guides to remove the SIM lock after jailbreaking and such.

Of course, I can simply ask my service provider what to do, but they are professionals when it comes to being unhelpful and misleading when it is in their best interest, so I'm trying to ask here first.

Other phone users (not iPhone) I asked said they only had to insert a code given from their service provider. I see no place in the iPhone where such a code can be entered. So, if there is such a place - where is it? If not - how can I remove the SIM lock with most ease?

Without going into the technical details, iOS ships in a deactivated state and needs to contact an activation server to determine the carrier and locking status each time the device is restored.

iTunes performs the unlocking of all phones less than iOS 5. With iOS5, the device can self activate or activate through iTunes.

When a device is sold, it enters the database as an unlocked device or a locked device. You need the entity that has a lock on your device to update this database. It doesn't really matter if they type it into their system or pass a message to Apple that the device should now be unlocked, but iOS doesn't seem to have a place to enter a unlock code for DIY unlocking and instead depends on the activation process to determine GSM lock status.

I haven't seen it documented anywhere, but my presumption is that Apple operates the service that determines which phone on a serial number / IMEI basis should be locked or unlocked. Given the millions of devices this system is surely automated and authority to make changes to the database is delegated through to the carriers to handle their own unlock requests.

Even here in the US where our Library of Congress has stated for the record that consumers are allowed by law to unlock their devices in certain circumstances, I have yet to see a documented case where someone actually got AT&T to perform a true unlock as described above.


Are locked notes in the Notes.app are encrypted on the local host? Anyone has a clue? I know they are encrypted on the servers, but I would like to know if they are also particularly encrypted on my machine. Thanks!

All user data on iOS devices is automatically encrypted. This includes any data stored in the Notes app.

Data on Mac computers is not encrypted by default, unless the individual app encrypts its data storage. It appears that data is stored in an unencrypted SQLite database, based on the fact there's a third-party export tool available.


Track number missing after iPhone upgrade to iOS 8.4 Before the upgrade to IOS 8.4, when I was listening to music, it would have the track number at the top of the screen (i.e. "1 of 14") but with 8.4 I can't seem to find a way to put that back on, if it's even possible.  Any help/suggestions?

Apple has removed the track number feature from the Music app and it is not known if or when it will return.


PDF magazine to Newsstand solution on low budget? I'm a student in charge of my university's magazine, and I'm interested in finding a user and budget friendly solution to distributing a tablet version on Apple's Newsstand.

I'm not the best programmer in the world, but I can follow a tutorial - is there a simple framework that I'd be able to train people how to use? I've noticed some apps are basically glorified PDF viewers with no frills. That would be good enough for us - we're not looking to do anything special, we're just looking to do something.

I have an iOS developer account, and we might be able to invest in some software - but paying an outside company a subscription to do it for us would be a little harder to justify, especially if it's too expensive, because all of our budget decisions go through a bureaucratic meat grinder.

For reference - we do pretty much everything on InDesign. Unfortunately, we can't fit Creative Cloud Professional memberships in the budget (not even one).

To boil it down: are there any solutions out there that are friendly to english and journalism majors? Or are there any companies who offer educational discounts to organisations like ours who might be able to help?

Newsstand requires building an actual iOS application, albeit a simple one. I'm not sure an English major could manage that (he says, who was once a professional computer programmer and English major).

You might be better to consider iBooks. Check out https://developer.apple.com/ibooks/

You can download iBooks Author for free in the Mac App store to build extremely nice iBooks and they can then be put into the bookstore if you have a developer account. You might then email all your subscribers with a link to grab the new issue. iBooks Author is almost as much fun to use a InDesign and certainly more fun than Pages.

If you are convinced to go the Newsstand route then I suggest you find an iOS programmer who can assist you. You will need a good understanding of the iOS WebKit framework (as the most likey way to handle your content), the Newsstand framework and the push framework at an absolute minimum. Once you have the app coded and running then the difficulty of creating an issue depends on exactly how you decide to handle it in your app. The app gets passed the issue as a bundle and how it deals with it is entirely up to your app.


Aperture 3 seems to have completely lost all of my ratings. What can I do to recover them? I noticed the other day that none of the ratings I've made in Aperture are showing up anymore.

Firstly, I'm wondering how that could have happened? I've done a number of things lately like relocate masters, regenerate thumbnails, etc. but I can't pin it down to a specific date and besides I was fairly certain that the ratings metadata was stored separately from all of that. I'm trying to avoid having to restore the library from Time Machine.

To keep the answer general enough for anyone - I'll add some precautionary steps that you can ignore as appropriate.

You might want to set up a vault
to back things up as they are or
kick off a backup before trying to
repair the database.
The sure thing is to recover from a backup before the database got corrupt. The ratings are stored in files separate from the images so there are three repair/rebuild options. See the Aperture Troubleshooting article. It's unlikely the file with the ratings lost read permission, but that would be ideal and rapid to fix. The other options are less "safe" when the database is corrupt and could result in losing work or making the system worse. It's not designed to make things worse - but it's a rare occurrence and your library is broken so even the best attempts to fix it could hurt and not help.
Lastly - you will have to restore from TimeMachine (or an Aperture Vault if you set that up) and re-import or re-perform the changes since that back up.

Good Luck!


Is it safe to downgrade Lion from 10.7.1 to 10.7? Questions

Is it OK to downgrade 10.7.1 Client to 10.7 using the original version 1.0.4 of Install Mac OS X Lion.app?

Either type of downgrade to be followed by updates. These questions focus on:

the period during which a downgraded system runs.

(Installation to a clean volume, without downgrade may be preferable, but that's a separate discussion.)

Key points

Version 1.0.4 of the installer recognises that something more recent than 10.7 (Build 11A511) is running, but:

does not caution the user against downgrade
does not create /Previous System
reuses /System

Background

Install Mac OS X Lion.app 1.0.4 for Mac OS X 10.7 (Build 11A511) appeared in the Mac App Store on 20th July 2011. Following advice from Apple, some users set aside a copy of version 1.0.4.

OS X Lion Update 10.7.1 (Client) and OS X Lion Update 10.7.1 (Server) were posted on 16th August 2011.

Install Mac OS X Lion.app 1.0.8 for Mac OS X (Build 11B26) appeared in the Store on 23rd August. If a copy of 1.0.4 is found, the Store routine may update that copy to 1.0.8.

However:

between 16th and 23rd August, 1.0.8 was not an option
some users may be unaware of 1.0.8
some users are aware of 1.0.8 but prefer to retain and reuse 1.0.4 (to install 10.7 instead of 10.7.1, then update).

Downgrade 10.7.1 (Client) to 10.7

Downgrade is possible, apparently without restriction, but not necessarily OK.

My own case

After using 10.7.1 for a few days, a series of events led me to erase my startup volume then use Recovery OS Time Machine to restore from backup. These events left me without the Recovery HD that is required for FileVault 2.

At that time, version 1.0.8 of the installer was not available.

To regain a Recovery OS:

avoiding my usual account, I used a different account to log in to 10.7.1 (intention: data integrity — avoid my usual home directory at all stages during a downgrade)
I ran version 1.0.4 of the installer on 10.7.1 to install (downgrade to) 10.7
avoiding my usual account, I used a different account to log in to 10.7
I observed an issue affecting a peripheral display — at least one thing not OK
I didn't investigate that issue, didn't seek other issues (intention: spend as little time as possible in a downgraded environment)
I ran Software Update, got 10.7.1 and other updates.

More generally

Data relating to the greatest version of an executable may be incompatible with, or lose integrity with, a lesser version.

Incompatibility or loss of integrity may be acceptable for some types of file (examples: cache files, preference files). For other types (example: application support) integrity may be critical.

For the System version/build over which you wish to reinstall, if Apple provides a matching full installer:

avoid downgrade — prefer to install a matching system.

Application-specific formats that are designed for export and import

To minimise the risks associated with downgrades, I guess that:

an archive produced by Address Book in 10.7.1 should be usable without issue in 10.7
an archive produced by iCal in 10.7.1 should be usable without issue in 10.7

– and so on.


Is the app store review process shorter for apps that passed the Test Flight Beta approval process? I use Test Flight intensively to send apps for internal and external ("Beta") reviewers.

When an app is sent for external Beta reviewers, is goes through an Apple review process before these testers can access the new version.

If an beta-approved app is sent for an app store review, can I expect a  shorter approval process there?

No, at least there's no proof that going through TestFlight first will shorten the App Store review process.

TestFlight only performs a cursory evaluation and not a larger review that's required for the App Store.  Apple indicates that TestFlight is way to "improve your app before submitting it to the App Store for review."

However, Twitter and developer forums are full of examples of apps that passed TestFlight and failed App Store review.  I often recommended developers use TestFlight to catch the 'low-hanging fruit', simple items, that cause review rejections.


Time Capsule: "There was a problem connecting to the server" I have a dream:  The dream of using my MBP inside and outside my office, and having it backup to my 2TB Time Capsule when on its wireless network, or postpone backups when not on the Time Capsule's wireless network.

Unfortunately, if I've been on a different wireless network for a few hours worth of backup attempts, bringing the machine back onto the Time Capsule's wireless network doesn't clear up the problem.  I can select the disk as a backup drive in the Time Machine preferences, but the disk remains unavailable from the Finder, and any backup attempts yield the standard:

  There was a problem connecting to the
  server "Max Time Capsule"

  Check the server name or IP address, and then try
  again.  If you continue to have problems, contact your
  system administrator.

My WiFi connection is through the same Time Capsule that hosts the backup drive, and its name and IP address have decidedly not changed.  The only thing that seems to help is restarting the Time Capsule, but that is an inconvenient workaround at best.

The problem sounds similar to Backup Disk Not Available, but the answers to that question are either to restart or change the disk name or turn off the 5 GHz network (which didn't help).  I also looked at /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeCapsule.plist, but found nothing that seemed relevant.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  My MBP is running OS X 10.7.5, and the Time Capsule firmware is 7.6.1.

I experience issues like this from time to time. Although running a later version of MacOS (10.13), most of the steps should be similar.

What I normally do is:

Use AirPort Utility to check if the firmware on the AirPort device is
current, then restart (even if the firmware is up-to-date.
Run Disk Utility on the Time Capsule backup volume (whether external
or integrated in Time Machine)
Restart the main computer, holding
down the CMD + R keys to start up in recovery mode, then run Disk
Utility on all storage volumes that are backed up with Time
Machine.
Disconnect the Time Capsule volume, then reconnect. Hold
down the Option key, then under Time Machine in the menu bar, run
Verify Backups.

Situations like this can be frustrating, and it may take some time to do this, but I find it usually helps. For some other tips, Apple has some suggestions here.


Is it possible to run OpenZFS on MacOS Sierra on a Mac Pro I have a Mac Pro with a PCIe flash startup drive running MacOS Sierra. I would like to fill the 4 empty SATA HDD bays with drives and use OpenZFS to create a pool/volume.

Is this configuration possible?
What risks/issues might I face with this setup? For example, how might macOS updates affect accessing my ZFS data pool?

I'm open to using MacOS Sierra's RAID tools, but I prefer to use the ZFS file system for this due to its superior data protection and compression features.

Yes it is: I am using zfs, including after upgrading to High Sierra and after updating zfs a few times.

After updating macOS I vaguely recall reinstalling zfs for this version of macOS (and possibly uninstalling it first--fairly certain I followed the directions associated with the installer or in the wiki), and then later as zfs was updated installed the newer release. I was prompted to upgrade the zpool in the normal course of using my external drive (when I did sudo zpool import -a -f).


Are my macOS man pages outdated? I run macOS 10.14.6, "Mojave". I've been studying man screen to make some changes to its default behavior. The 2nd & 4th paragraphs under CUSTOMIZATION read:

  When screen is invoked, it executes initialization commands from the files "/usr/local/etc/screenrc"  and       ".screenrc" in the user's home directory. These are the "programmer's defaults" that can be overridden in        the following ways: for the global screenrc file screen searches  for  the  environment  variable  $SYSS-CREENRC  (this  override  feature  may  be  disabled at compile-time). The user specific screenrc file is
         searched in $SCREENRC, then $HOME/.screenrc.  The command line option -c takes precedence over the  above
         user screenrc files.

4th para:

  Two configuration files are shipped  as  examples  with  your  screen  distribution:  "etc/screenrc"  and
         "etc/etcscreenrc". They contain a number of useful examples for various commands.

But it seems there are some discrepancies:

/usr/local/etc does not exist
$SYSSCREENRC is not defined (echo $SYSSCREENRC => null)
$SCREENRC is not defined
etc/screenrc does not exist (nor does private/etc/screenrc)
etc/etcscreenrc does not exist (nor does private/etc/etcscreenrc)

I've assumed that all the "Unix stuff" in macOS is maintained by Apple, and updated when required, just as the "other stuff" is. However, as my system is up-to-date, that may not be the case.

Question...

Is there a separate update process in macOS required to get updates for the Unix tools and system manuals? For example, according to man screen Apple packages screen ver 4.0.2 (January 2004 vintage) with macOS 10.14.6; that release was 16 years ago this month.

Is there a process outside macOS for updating this part of the system that's "sanctioned" by Apple? (By "sanctioned" I only mean a procedure designated by Apple to maintain system integrity.)

If not, has Apple acknowledged this situation? By that I'm only trying to learn if I missed something.

Is there a separate update process in macOS required to get updates for the unix tools and system manuals? For example, according to man screen Apple packages screen ver 4.0.2 (January 2004 vintage) with macOS 10.14.6; that release was 16 years ago this month.

No.  There is no separate process to update Unix tools/utilities.
It’s just very unlikely that the Unix tools will be updated past the versions you’re seeing now.
Why?  GPL Licensing.
Using screen as an example, it will likely remain on version 4.0.2 because that was the last version that used the less restrictive GPLv2 public license.  Version 4.2 (2007) and subsequent releases use the GPLv3 which Apple generally doesn’t want to comply with.
See Is macOS mostly closed source? for more info.
As to the issues you raised regarding screen:

/usr/local/etc is a BSD directory.  A lot of macOS has BSD underpinnings, but this directory is not used.
A lot of environment variables are not set by the OS and this is quite common across all OSes; macOS, BSD, and even Linux distros like RedHat.
Sample config files not being included in the OS is also common
Apple doesn’t rewrite the man pages for the changes they make (which the GPLv2 license allows them to do)

If not, has Apple acknowledged this situation? By that I'm only trying to learn if I missed something.

There’s nothing to acknowledge as this was done intentionally by Apple.  If you want to “update” to the latest version of a Unix utility, you either have to compile it from source, use MacPorts or HomeBrew.  You’ll have to manage the updating of them, however.
Are macOS man pages outdated?
No.  They are the correct man pages for the versions of the utilities that ship with macOS.


Not enough storage space on MacBook Air SSD As a newbie to Macs I thought putting files into iCloud would save me SSD space, but now I see that is not the case. I also have Dropbox and I was wondering if there is a way to transfer files from iCloud to Dropbox and use Dropbox's selective sync option to keep some of the files stored there from cluttering up my SSD.

Early 2015 MacBook Air, 128 GB SSD, OS X 10.11.5 "El Capitan".

You could just drag the files from the iCloud folder to the DropBox folder.

Do them a bit at a time to ensure that you have enough disk space to complete the transfer.

If your available disk space is less than the size of the largest file on your iCloud Drive (i.e. you have few, very large files) - you could upload it on the DropBox web site to store it in Dropbox without requiring extra local storage right away.


Issues playing/ripping DVD on iMac OS: Yosemite 10.10.4

So, I have a kids educational DVD I want to rip to have on my phone for commute time.  No problem in a DVD player.

On my Mac, DVD Player has it blotchy and large amount of artifacts.  I tried to use Handbrake to rip it, same issue - bad audio and huge video artifacts.  I tried to be clever and say "oh, it must be timing with DVD hardware, lets create a disk image with Disk Utility, mount it, and let Handbrake do the rip with the mounted drive instead" Nope, still has video artifacts and bad audio.

I searched here, nothing about artifacts, just DVD ripping tips.  Anyone else experienced this and figured something out?

You said that you tried to create an image but did you use DiskUtility?

Try to create new image of your DVD using DiskUtility. Save it to *.cdr file and mount & play or burn already created image to see the difference.


How to fix slow Spotlight and Time Machine after upgrading to  10.7.5? Since updating to 10.7.5 both Spotlight and Time Machine are very slow.

To index a normal system drive Spotlight calculates to need several days.
As a result Time Machine takes up to an hour or more for an incremental backup of ~100 Mib.

What solution is there for these slow Time Machine backups and Spotlight indexing?

I posted this workaround in that topic. Here it is (it is not a solution, only a temporary workaround to let my backup and Spotlight work until a fix is released).

Using Terminal:

I disabled Spotlight indexing:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

I deleted Spotlight index in all my drives (including the backup drives):

sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1 /.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2  /.Spotlight-V100/VolumeConfiguration.plist

sudo rm -rf /TimeMachineDrive/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1 /TimeMachineDrive/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2  /TimeMachineDrive/.Spotlight-V100/VolumeConfiguration.plist

(rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100/* did not work for me.) (This can also be done by excluding the whole drive using privacy setting of Spotlight and then reincluding it.)

I deleted /var/folders content (see this topic to know why):

sudo rm -rf /var/folders/*

I deleted the .inProgress files from my Backups.backupdb subfolders (put to trash then empty the trash is the only way to do this).

It may be necessary to reformat your backup drive instead of only deleting .inProgress files.

I rebooted and then I restarted Spotlight:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

sudo mdutil -i on -E /

I waited until Spotlight finished indexing process
I launched a new backup using TimeMachine
I opened a bugreport to Apple with the title: "TimeMachine hangs when Spotlight is in use under Mac OS X 10.7" praying that many other people will do the same to make this bug a priority.

Some steps may be useless, but I took all what I learn by reading different topic about slow TM and Spotlight.


Why does opening the camera app pause music or podcasts on an iPhone 6s? When listening to audio like music, podcasts, or an audio book on an iPhone 6s running iOS 9 the audio pauses when I open the camera app to take a photo. This doesn't happen on other devices. Is there a way to stop it from pausing?

Live photos use the microphone to record sound as well as video when you take a picture. Look at the camera settings when you open the app to see whether video is going to happen (or already be happening since it records video from before you press the shutter).

There appears to be a bug (that hasn't been fixed yet as of iOS 9.3) on that hardware that makes iPhone 6S worse than others - it pauses even when you are aware of the video aspects and request a non-live photo and non-video recording setting.


Words are selected in a weird way in iPad Pro Books! In Books in IPad Pro 11 inches, iPadOS14.5, sometimes when I want to select part of a text, the first word on which I click is selected like in the picture, and move as I scroll, and doesn’t go away unless I close Books and open it again.
Why is it like that?
How to get rid of it without closing Books?

Reinstall Apple Books
Make a backup of all of your files. PDFs, books and anything you have imported into Apple Books. You already have a backup if you use iCloud and Apple Books and iCloud Drive are enabled on Preferences > Your Name > iCloud.
Delete the Apple Books app and download it again from the App Store. Then try again and see if it fixes your issue.
Beta software
I see you are running iOS 14.5. iOS and iPadOS 14.5 are currently beta operating systems and are expected to have bugs and other random issues. I can't guarantee you this specific issue is caused by the beta, but it's possible. I would test it but since I'm a developer I'm also running the developer beta.
Nonetheless, all of the notices on using beta software from this answer apply.
If you didn't have this issue before, you can downgrade your iPad to a stable version and see if downgrading fixes it.
I'll summarize the downgrade steps but you should check out the complete downgrade tutorial here.

Make sure you have a backup of all of your data. If you don't have backups, you will lose all of your data during the downgrade. Backups created on iPadOS 14.5 can't be restored on iPadOS 14.4, which is why Apple tells you to backup before installing the beta. I don't remember if there's a way to keep the data when downgrading without a backup.

Connect your iPad to your Mac or PC via USB.

Open Finder or iTunes and select your iPad.

Force-restart your iPad and enter recovery mode.

Select Restore in Finder or iTunes.

Wait for Finder/iTunes to finish downloading the stable version of iOS to your computer. It will automatically begin installing after it finishes downloading.

Click Ok to the “Your iPad has been restored to factory settings…” message, and wait (don't disconnect the device) until it shows you what are your options for restoring your data.

Restore your data.

If you don't have a backup, you can also wait and check if it is fixed on the next betas. Developer betas are released roughly once every two weeks. You should report this and any other issues you find to Apple using the Feedback Assistant app so they can fix it.

It's best if you report it directly from your iPad, if possible right after the issue occurred, because the iPad will collect logs and diagnostic data that is critical to finding the bug. You can see your bug reports from the web at https://feedbackassistant.apple.com
I think this is likely a software issue (even if not beta-related), but I'll include two other easy things I've thought of which you can try.
Generic cable or charger interfering with the screen
Generic cables and chargers can interfere with the touch on your screen and create weird scenarios when using your devices. Try unplugging them and distancing your iPad from the charger and see if this fixes your issue.
Too much grease interfering with the screen
If the screen is way too greasy (a lot, like picking-up-greasy-food-then-immediately-using-the-iPad greasy), it would be possible for the grease to interfere and keep registering as a touch input on the screen after you lifted your finger. iPadOS has many software optimizations to ignore unintentional touches so this issue could be sporadic and closing the app like you mentioned (or just switching to the Home Screen and then back to the app) would fix it.
I'm mentioning this because there are parents with children who share iPads. If the issue remains after cleaning the screen, then this is not the cause.


How can I install Fedora Linux on a MacBook Pro, Model A1150? I performed the following steps:

Formatted a USB Flash Drive as: FAT32
Copied the Fedora Live ISO image to: /efi/boot/boot.iso
Copied ISO 2 USB EFI Booter for Mac to: /efi/boot/boot.efi

I then inserted the USB Flash Drive into the MacBook Pro, pressing the  option key directly after turning it on. However, after selecting the disk to boot from, it only booted to a grub prompt.

What else do I need to boot this Fedora Live ISO image from a USB Flash Drive?

I see in your question, per the second and third bullet points, you are attempting to boot the USB Flash Drive via UEFI.

From 4.2 UEFI boot of USB sticks on How to create and use Live USB

There are two MacBook Pro's with Model Number A1150, both having the Model Identifier MacBookPro1,1 with one of the following Processors, Intel Core Duo (T2400, T2500, T2600) and Intel Core Duo (T2500, T2600) on the 15" Glossy Display.

All three processors listed use a 32-bit Instruction Set.

Therefore, since UEFI booting is only supported with the 64-bit release of Fedora and the MacBook Pro model A1150 has a 32-bit processor, you will need to download and burn a 32-bit version of Fedora to optical media (CD/DVD) and attempt to boot from it, if that too is even possible.


Cursor size adjustment I have a mid 2010 Mac Pro and I would like to have a larger Pointer on my cursor so that I can find it easier. Where might I go to fine and download one?

You can change the cursor size in
System Prefs > Accessibility > Display

Alternatively, you could use the 'shake to locate' feature on the same page.


Can an Apple TV 2 be operated without HDMI plugged in? (This question is related in goal, but not method.)

Shortly after launch, I bought the new Apple TV. A few months later, my girlfriend and I broke up and the HDTV went with her. Apple TV returned to his box, never to be seen or heard from again. I know, terrible!

I've been pondering how I could send tunes to the stereo in my office without running a 20ft cable to my headphones jack, since all the error noises would be pretty disruptive and whatnot. Then I remembered, Apple TV has a Toslink port.

I think that using this, this and this, I should be able to just AirPlay from iTunes. I'm worried, though, that the set-top box might be a bit offended that I don't plan on giving it an HDMI buddy.

Has anyone done this before?

I know for sure Apple TV works fine with AirPlay to send audio out the Toslink (digital optical) with or without a HDMI cable connected.

The converter you linked to seems to take RCA (electric) digital signal and turns it into Toslink (optical) digital signal so I doubt that's exactly what you want to get to a headphone jack with analog stereo (electric) signal.

Since it's not clear what input your stereo wants, it's unclear if everything will work, but the Apple TV will work as you ask.

I have this setup (but Toslink to my speaker) as well as a second stereo connected via bluetooth and a Belkin receiver that connects to the normal 1/8" headphone jack. That might be cheaper than cables and an adapter if the distance is 30 feet or less.


How to record iPhone/iPad screen in Windows As seen in this question, it's possible to record an iPhone or iPad using a Mac by using Quicktime's recording features. This unfortunately isn't an option on Windows, as Quicktime for Windows was discontinued fo in 2016 without ever adding this feature.

Is there any way to record an iPhone/iPad screen on a Windows PC?

According to 9to5Mac, iOS 11 includes a dedicated Screen Recorder which can be used without connecting to a Mac.

  Enabling screen recording on iOS 11

  Launch Settings → Control Center → Customize Controls.
  Scroll down in the list and add Screen Recording
  Close Settings

  Swipe-up from the bottom of the display to reveal Control Center
  Tap Screen Recording button to immediately begin recording (or 3D Touch to bring up menu)

Source: 9toMac - How to enable screen recording on iOS 11 without a computer


What's the best way to login to remote servers? I'm currently logging in to a remote server by opening terminal, starting ssh-agent, adding a key, launching xterm and then connecting via ssh.

What tools should I be using for this?  I've looked at keychain, but the docs don't explain how to use it for ssh.

It should Just Work. In more detail: First, don't run ssh-agent yourself, since launchd will run it for you on demand. Make sure your private ssh key is in ~/.ssh/ with appropriate permissions, i.e., not readable by anybody but yourself:

; ls -l .ssh/id_dsa
-rw-------  1 user  13799  736 Oct 12  2001 .ssh/id_dsa

Now run ssh remote-hostname. A dialog should pop up to let you unlock the key. The dialog has a check button for storing the pass phrase in your keychain. Check it, and hit OK. (You need to do this with /usr/bin/ssh, I think, and not any ssh that you might have from macports or fink.) If you don't get the dialog, it could be that ssh needs to be told about the name and location of your private key. If so, specify it using the -i flag, as in

ssh -i .ssh/id_dsa remote-hostname


Logic Remote iPad app no longer able to control Logic Pro X I'm facing an issue with Logic Pro X (on macOS Sierra) and Logic Remote on my iPad. Up until recently, controlling Logic Pro X with the iPad was working perfectly fine, but since a couple of weeks ago (might have been related to an update of either Logic Pro X, or Logic Remote), the mixing controls on the iPad are no longer working.

When I try to change a track's volume on the iPad, nothing happens in Logic Pro X, instead, the track's volume slider on the iPad drops down to zero and can't be moved anymore. This happens with all tracks in all of my Logic Pro X projects. Restarting the MacBook or the iPad has not fixed the issue.

What can I do to get this working again?

I found that deleting the Logic Remote device in Logic Pro X's Control Surface Setup screen fixes the issue:

In Logic Pro X, go to Logic Pro X > Control Surfaces > Setup...
Find the device that is representing the iPad's Logic Remote app.
Right-click the entry and select Delete
Close down the iPad's Logic Remote app and restart it.
Wait for it to connect to Logic Pro X and the mixing controls will work fine again.


Bootcamp - is it OK to delete windowssupport.dmg after installing windows? As the title says, I've already installed Windows by bootcamp and all works well. Now I've found this windowssupport.dmg in Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Bootcamp. Can I just delete it? I'm low on disk space.

Yes, you can.

windowssupport.dmg is a large but disposable file. System requires it once when you installing Windows. After that you've got no reason to keep it at your drive.


Why can't I see my Numbers spreadsheets on my new iPhone? I had been using Numbers on my iPad and on my iPhone 4.  The spreadsheets were synced perfectly over 3G and wifi.  However, I just bought an iPhone 4S.  The spreadsheets are missing when I open numbers.  I've tried the following to remedy:

1.) Checked Settings -> iCloud to make sure that my account info was correct.

2.) Checked that Documents & Data were being synced.

3.) Checked that Settings -> Numbers -> Use iCloud was ON.

I'm out of ideas.  I've tried turning these settings off then on again while Numbers had been killed.  Still, I see no spreadsheets on the iPhone.  I can see them on iCloud.com and on my iPad.  What gives?

There isn't much to troubleshoot with iCloud syncing and the iOS version of Numbers. (In the sense that even using Xcode to look at the console logs on the device, the error messages are thin to nonexistent.)

When you enable iCloud on one device it should push all the local documents to iCloud so you don't have to connect to iTunes and manage the files manually.

There are three avenues to make the best progress to resolving this issue:

Try your account on another device to rule out your account needing attention before you call on Apple for help.
Try another account on your device to rule out your device's software or settings (or a very long shot that somehow your hardware could be causing it)
Wait it out or call on Apple to investigate.


Apple TV YouTube "Error occured loading this content" So my YouTube application for my Apple TV is not working. When I go to play a video, it shows "An error has occurred loading this content. Try again later." This first started happening yesterday out of the blue, and I double-checked to see if any of my other applications had the same problem but YouTube's the only one. I've unplugged and plugged back in the cords on the back of the box, and I've restarted Apple TV and still no luck. If anyone has any suggestions, please reply!

Start the YouTube application on your Apple TV
scroll to the right to "settings" in your menu
click "settings" and go to "clear cookies"
choose "clear cookies" and start playing your videos again.


How can I force a Mac laptop to shutdown when the battery is below 25%? It is common wisdom that Lithium-Ion batteries should not be left with 0% charge.

However, some users might not be aware of this common wisdom, or simply refuse to concern themselves about proper battery care. For example, an end-user may drain the battery to 0%, then put the computer away without putting it back on the charge. This rapidly diminishes the life of the battery.

Is there any app or setting that will force the computer to turn off when the battery charge is around 25%, to ensure that a healthy reserve is available and damage to the battery is avoided?

I haven't tested this, although something such as this should work:

property lowBattery : 25

on idle
    set battStatus to do shell script "pmset -g ps"
    if battStatus contains "InternalBattery" then
        set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, ";"}
        set battStatus to text items of battStatus
        set text item delimiters to space
        set battStatus to text 1 thru -2 of last text item of item 1 of battStatus as integer
        set text item delimiters to TID
        -- Shutdown if battery is less than 25%
        if battStatus < lowBattery then tell application "loginwindow" to «event aevtrsdn»
    end if
    return 60
end idle

In AppleScript editor save it as an Application using Stay open run handler, then add it to your Login Items under System Preferences > Users & Groups


Can I upgrade my MacBookPro Model6.1 8GB (2x 4GB) to 16GB (2x 8GB) I have a MacBook Pro mid 2010 Model 6.1 i7 17" with 8GB RAM inside. I want to upgrade to 16GB. I have seen that it should be possible on the model 7.1 but I have 6.1 Can I upgrade? Does it work on my MacBookPro?

Apple's specs for the Mid 2010 17" MacBook Pro state the maximum is 8GB.

OWC maintains a list of Macs that can accept more RAM than Apple's official numbers. Unfortunately the Mid 2010 MBP is not on that list. (Do not confuse it with the Mid 2010 13" MacBook.)


Resize display resolution of a macOS Mojave guest running in VMware Fusion 11.1 ➥ How does one change the screen resolution of their macOS Fusion guest?

On my Mac mini (2018) running macOS mojave 10.14.5, I am running VMware Fusion 11.1 with a BenQ 4K monitor on DisplayPort. Inside that is a macOS Mojave 10.14.6 guest OS.

I want that macOS guest to have its display resolution (size) grow when I stretch the VM window. I am used to this behavior as a feature in Parallels Desktop (competitor to Fusion).

When I stretch the VM window, the contents are stretched and pixelated but the logical size of the guest display does not change.

When I go to System Preferences > Displays > Display > Resolution > Scaled, I see no other options but 1024 x 768.

My Fusion preferences are set to the default, Resize the virtual machine and the window. The documentation says that should change the resolution of guest VM.

There are older Questions on this topic such as this one. But they seem outdated or unclear.

Reinstall VMware Tools

As was often the case with the competitor Parallels you mentioned, when the screen resolution fails to adjust you may need to re-install their software that embeds within the guest OS to enhance integration with the host OS.

From the main VMware Fusion app menu bar, choose Virtual Machine > Reinstall VMware Tools.

This mounts an installer app within the Finder of your guest OS.

Run Install VMware Tools.app. After it completes, your guest macOS restarts. Then you should be able to redefine your virtual display resolution. Simply grab the corner of the VM window on the host Mac, and grow/shrink the VM window. The size within the guest macOS auto-resizes.

You cannot use the System Preferences > Display within the VM to re-size. Instead, use this stretch-the-VM-window maneuver.


Had free GarageBand now it's the full version. Never paid for it, what happened? I had free GarageBand on my old phone, didn't use it for a bit, went back to it and now it's the full version...

I never paid for anything, and I don't believe in a "free lunch"...

So what's up with that?  I honestly have no idea how this happened?

Should I delete it and get it again legitimately?

If you have gotten a new 64gb iPhone starting with the 5s, iWork and iLife apps come pre-installed. You don't have to purchase them once you purchase a new device. The same is true for an iPad.


Want to upgrade to Mac OS High Sierra and it shows MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation Trying to update my MacBook from os El Capitan to High Sierra  on reboot it shows MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation

Typically this means you need to erase your drive. It could be a permanent storage error, but most of the time you can fix things by erasing the entire drive and reinstalling.

MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation
Unable to format Mac internal drive (disk0)

Do you need time to back up or instructions to erase and install macOS?


gpg-agent stopped working I have been successfully using the gnupg21 package from MacPorts for several months.  Within the past few days I updated my MacPorts installation (sudo port -d selfupdate) and then made sure I was up to date (sudo port upgrade outdated).  Since then gpgv2 no longer works:

tartarus:~ sbooth$ gpg2 -K
gpg: can't connect to the agent: IPC connect call failed

tartarus:~ sbooth$ gpg-connect-agent
gpg-connect-agent: no running gpg-agent - starting '/opt/local/bin/gpg-agent'
gpg-connect-agent: waiting for the agent to come up ... (5s)
gpg-connect-agent: waiting for the agent to come up ... (4s)
gpg-connect-agent: waiting for the agent to come up ... (3s)
gpg-connect-agent: waiting for the agent to come up ... (2s)
gpg-connect-agent: waiting for the agent to come up ... (1s)
gpg-connect-agent: can't connect to the agent: IPC connect call failed
gpg-connect-agent: error sending standard options: No agent running

tartarus:~ sbooth$ gpg-agent --help
Assertion failed: (res == 0), function enter_npth, file npth.c, line 123.
Abort trap: 6

I have completely uninstalled my MacPorts installation (rm -rf /opt/local) and reinstalled everything, to no avail.  Is there something else I can try?

I'm running macOS Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2657).

I'm seeing exactly the same problem and, according to a MacPorts bug report, it's coming from libgpg-error and not seen with GnuPG version 2.1.16.

So it seems we need to either wait for the gnupg21 port to move from 2.1.15 to 2.1.16 or locally modify and rebuild the gnupg21 port (and maybe some of its dependencies?) to upgrade ahead of the official update. I'm not sure I'd want to do the latter with something like GnuPG though, although that's just an instinctive reaction.

Workaround

Rather than upgrading gnupg21 I've found that downgrading libgpg-error makes the problem go away (I tried this because of the comment in the GnuPG mailing list post linked from the bug report that it's the upgrade of libgpg-error from 1.24 to 1.25 that's caused the problem).

MacPorts provides guidance on downgrading a port and on one of my Macs I still happened to have 1.24 available (I installed MacPorts without root privileges hence the omission of sudo here):

$ port installed inactive | grep libgpg
  libgpg-error @1.24
$ port activate libgpg-error @1.24
--->  Computing dependencies for libgpg-error
--->  Deactivating libgpg-error @1.25_0
--->  Cleaning libgpg-error
--->  Activating libgpg-error @1.24_0
--->  Cleaning libgpg-error
$ port installed inactive | grep libgpg
  libgpg-error @1.25
$ gpg2 -K

No error, much joy :)

It's not quite so straightforward if the older version has been removed but also works for me (and given the reference to linking errors it might be prudent to uninstall then reinstall gnupg21 after downgrading libgpg-error if using the method above) :

$ svn checkout -r 150579
https://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/trunk/dports/devel/libgpg-error
Error validating server certificate for 'https://svn.macports.org:443':
 - The certificate is not issued by a trusted authority. Use the
   fingerprint to validate the certificate manually!
Certificate information:
 - Hostname: *.macports.org
 - Valid: from Mar  2 07:47:38 2016 GMT until May  2 01:19:52 2017 GMT
 - Issuer: GlobalSign Domain Validation CA - SHA256 - G2, GlobalSign nv-sa, BE
 - Fingerprint: 3E:AF:D7:EA:81:A4:92:33:B6:BC:DA:38:76:C3:15:54:9A:09:50:E0
(R)eject, accept (t)emporarily or accept (p)ermanently? t
A    libgpg-error/files
A    libgpg-error/files/patch-configure.diff
A    libgpg-error/Portfile
Checked out revision 150579.
$ cd libgpg-error/
$ port install
--->  Computing dependencies for libgpg-error
--->  Fetching distfiles for libgpg-error
--->  Verifying checksums for libgpg-error
--->  Extracting libgpg-error
--->  Applying patches to libgpg-error
--->  Configuring libgpg-error
--->  Building libgpg-error
--->  Staging libgpg-error into destroot
--->  Installing libgpg-error @1.24_0
--->  Deactivating libgpg-error @1.25_0
--->  Cleaning libgpg-error
--->  Activating libgpg-error @1.24_0
--->  Cleaning libgpg-error
--->  Updating database of binaries
--->  Scanning binaries for linking errors
--->  Found 16 broken file(s), matching files to ports
--->  Found 1 broken port(s), determining rebuild order
--->  Rebuilding in order
     gnupg21 @2.1.15 +pinentry_mac
Portfile changed since last build; discarding previous state.
--->  Computing dependencies for gnupg21
--->  Cleaning gnupg21
--->  Scanning binaries for linking errors
--->  Found 16 broken file(s), matching files to ports
--->  Found 1 broken port(s), determining rebuild order
--->  Rebuilding in order
     gnupg21 @2.1.15 +pinentry_mac
--->  Computing dependencies for gnupg21
--->  Fetching distfiles for gnupg21
--->  Verifying checksums for gnupg21
--->  Extracting gnupg21
--->  Configuring gnupg21
--->  Building gnupg21
--->  Staging gnupg21 into destroot
--->  Deactivating gnupg21 @2.1.15_0+pinentry_mac
--->  Cleaning gnupg21
--->  Uninstalling gnupg21 @2.1.15_0+pinentry_mac
--->  Cleaning gnupg21
--->  Computing dependencies for gnupg21
--->  Installing gnupg21 @2.1.15_0+pinentry_mac
--->  Activating gnupg21 @2.1.15_0+pinentry_mac

GPG 2.1 uses a new format for its key files. Therefore you cannot use it together with any earlier version of GPG. Neither can you
easily go back to an older version as the old version cannot read the new format.

--->  Cleaning gnupg21
--->  Updating database of binaries
--->  Scanning binaries for linking errors
--->  No broken files found.


How to merge two Mac partitions? Recently I ran Boot Camp Assistant to install a copy of Windows 7. The "Partitioning Disk" process froze and I force quit it - I know, bad idea - and although I was left with a functioning Mac, I noticed that the Mac is split into two separate partitions. One is 2.2 TB, and one is 801.44 GB (I have a 3 TB Fusion Drive). Previously they showed up as one single partition. When I launch Disk Utility, either from Utilities or Internet Recovery Mode, I get "The full size of the Fusion Drive is not available for repartitioning.", and I'm unable to delete/adjust either of the partitions (all the options are greyed out).

I have Time Machine and I have a separate HD backup, so I don't mind reinstalling OS X - in fact, I want to - but I want to fix the Mac hard drive so that everything appears as one cohesive partition, but I'm not sure what to do.

I found this site - http://www.rawkode.com/blog/2014/2/12/osx-fusion-drive-boot-camp-assistant-disk-utility-recovery - which seems to do what I want to do, but I'm hesitant on using "deleteVolume". I'm not sure which logical volume value to enter, and I want to ensure that if I delete a volume or whatever, I'll still be able to reinstall OS X (and if I reinstall OS X, I'd like for there to still be a Recovery Mode, just in case).

Here's a picture of my Disk Utility:

diskutility http://www.pixelrealism.com/diskutil.jpg

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Try to run Disk utility upon system start up, this may increase functionality. So delete second volume and extend  Macintosh HD by dragging it down to make as a single unit. Also repair disk and permissions.

From the screenshot I noticed that you selected your boot disk, which is not possible to edit while OS is running, however second split of HD should be editable. To make less confusion, consider renaming HD, for potential data prevention while modifying HD


What is the modern equivalent of "ps aux" on macOS Sierra? The BSD backend of MacOS has ps built in. The BSD General Commands Manual says that

  The biggest change is in the interpretation of the -u option, which now displays processes belonging to the specified username(s).  Thus, "ps -aux" will fail (unless you want to know about user "x"). As a convenience, however, "ps aux" still works as it did in Tiger.

I am wondering what the current standard is for this—dare I write—obsolete command+parameter sequence.

To replicate ps aux (BSD style) in the AT&T version of ps, you have to use

ps -Ao user,pid,%cpu,%mem,vsz,rss,tt,stat,start,time,command

This command is compatible with scripts that expect the same output as ps aux.

The only difference is the sort order; ps aux sorts all processes by their start time whereas ps -Ao sorts them by PID.

ps -jef is a shorter command, but it will output different headers.:

USER
PID
PPID
PGID
SESS
JOBC
STAT
TT
TIME
COMMAND
UID
C
STIME
TTY


How can I dump my bootable ssd to inspect the dump in HEX editor I am on macbook.
I have encrypted bootable volume.
I know my password and can normally log in to my profile on macOs.
I need to make byte-perfect dump of encrypted partition in it's decrypted state to search for a specific bytes sequence.
Steps I did:

log in to recovery mode
mount partition via diskutil
run terminal and trying to read /dev/disk1s1

It shows following error:

cat: /dev/disk1s1: Operation not permitted

I also tried with hex editors and sudo mode.

Is there a way I can access unencrypted raw bytes sequence on internal ssd of my macbook?

Since you are booting into recovery, you will need to decrypt it first using diskutil

diskutil coreStorage decryptVolume /dev/disk1s1 -passphrase ThePassPhraseYouSet

It will then decrypt the volume.

Per the man page (man diskutil) :

  Begin a live background process of decrypting the on-disk backing
  bytes of an existing encrypted CoreStorage logical volume (LV).
  Bytes are read, decrypted, and written back to disk in plain form.  The LV must be unlocked before beginning this operation.

You will have to unlock first...

diskutil coreStorage unlockVolume

Once it's unencrpyted, you can then use dd to dump it to an image for later manipulation:

sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 of=/path/to/disk.img


How do I alt+f4 in OS X? I want to close focused window I am looking for a way to close the currently focused window using a keyboard shortcut. Effectively I want to do the same thing as the red "X" button in the top left corner, only using a keyboard. On windows/linux this is done by alt+f4

I know about:

⌘ Cmd+w - in any tabbed application such as google chrome it will close the current tab instead of current window
⌘ Cmd+q - will close the entire app instead of just the current window

Shift+⌘ Cmd+w does what you want in Safari and Chrome. I don't think it's a system-wide standard, though.

It works in Finder too so maybe it is a standard.

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/157179?hl=en


from where can i download el capitan image other than mac app store? In my college mac app store is blocked so can someone please provide me a link to direct download el capitan from web?

There's nowhere other than the Mac App Store where you can trust an installer to not give you a virus. If you have any place near your college with free wifi, going there to download El Capitan would be your best bet.

Alternatively, if you know anyone off campus with a Mac, you can have them download the installer from the App Store and then get it to you by giving you a flash drive or by using an online service like Copy (a Dropbox-like service that gives you 15GB for free).


What happens during an iPhone restore I'm looking at the apticket system and capturing TSS data. I want to know all the steps in restoring and verifying the IPSW, and exactly what data is sent to the signing server. From what I understand, the steps are as follows.

IPSW downloaded
Device ECID, iOS version and a 'nonce' sent to iTunes server
Above info signed, along with a hash of the IPSW (to create an apticket), and sent back to the client
Apticket verified by bootloader (hard wired into device)

Is this correct, what format does an apticket take, is any other information used, and how is the 'nonce' generated?

You are basically correct. Information about the APTicket can be found here, and SHSH information can be found here. And here is a slideshow from iH8sn0w from JailbreakCon in 2012 that describes everything else that you could ever want to know about the process. The JailbreakCon link has a list of all talks and links to their videos and/or slides (if publicly available) should you be hungry for even more information.

As far as actually how the nonce is generated, the bootloaders have been dumped, but they're proprietary and protected by copyright law, so publishing their contents is illegal. You can, however, dump them yourself, and investigate on your own.


AppleScript: How to right-click, without deselecting text, in Google Chrome? If one has selected some text in Google Chrome, and then uses cliclick to right click on this text in order to pull up the context menu for the selection, the text will no longer be selected. I would like the text to remain selected/highlighted after the right-click occurs (just like what happens when one right-clicks manually).

Here is the AppleScript code that I am using to right-click (wherever the cursor is located when the script is triggered):

do shell script "/usr/local/bin/cliclick kd:ctrl c:+0,+0"

Oddly enough, the issue only occurs in Google Chrome. If I run the AppleScript in Notes.app, TextEdit, Microsoft Word, Script Editor, Finder, Safari, etc. the selection remains highlighted after the right-click occurs.

Here is what I want to happen when the script is triggered:

(If you are wondering how I achieved this desired result while in Chrome, I simply right-clicked manually.)

Here is what actually happens when the above code is triggered:

Observe how PleaseRemainHighlighted goes from being selected to unselected.

Note: In the above GIF screen capture, the selected text happens to be editable. But the issue persists in Google Chrome whether the selected text is editable or uneditable.

I wanted to install MouseTools to see if this issue was unique to cliclick. But I can't figure out how to install MouseTools.

A workaround for "Google Chrome" (also work on any application): use dd:x,y and du:x,y

It's for a drag and drop, but it's a simple click when you put the same coordinates, like this:

do shell script "/usr/local/bin/cliclick kd:ctrl dd:. du:." -- mouseDown and mouseUp at the current cursor location


iBook on iPad: turn pages with voice command I bought an iPad for somebody who is paralysed; primarily as a book reader for its ability to enlarge the text- but also to surf the net, etc. with a family member or caregiver using the touchpad. I want to know if there is a voice command so he is able to turn pages himself, rather than needing to rely on anyone else.

No - without some external hardware that would somehow touch the screen for you, voice input is for Siri / VoiceOver and not general accessibility controls.

You might look to a program like Instapaper where you can scroll the view by tilting the device but iBooks doesn't have any accelerometer based controls or voice controls at present. It's not that it couldn't be added, just that it hasn't.


Is there any way to search for text in the *body* of a message in Sparrow on the iPhone? Sparrow for iPhone seems to only search the same fields that the Mail app does: from, to, subject, or all of them.

Given that gmail (sparrow's data source) and the sparrow Mac app both allow full text searches, and presumably the "work" is done on the gmail server side, it seems odd that you can't search the body of messages.

Am I missing something?   If not, does anyone know if this might be planned for a future release?

From my experience, and at least with Sparrow for iPhone 1.3.2 build 507.11, All does not refer to FROM+TO+SUBJECT, but all available fields, including the email body.


how to prevent ios from updating apps to incompatible versions How can you prevent ios from updating apps to newer versions which are incompatible with the version of ios running on the device?
I have an iPhone 3Gs running ios 4.3.5. Some apps that show updates available, do not work with this version of ios. I accidentally updated Stanza and it stopped working. I had to find an older version of Stanza in my Time Machine backup and reinstall it on my iPhone.

My iPhone 3Gs has limited battery life, so I don't want to impact is further by updating to ios 5. I would buy a new iPhone, but 3 year contracts are standard in Canada, so it would cost too much to upgrade my phone.

Sadly, the developer is the one who will have to fix this, and you cannot do anything without jail breaking it and (if you know code) making changes to the firmware.

However, read the release notes and take care to make sure it works on iOS 4. Usually the developer will put something in it about compatibility.


My project has disappeared from iMovie -- can you help me get it back? I have been working on a project on iMovie and yesterday I opened iMovie to continue working on it but I can't find it.

It says I have two projects but it only shows me one project and I am freaking out because I am suppose to show this video at my graduation for my whole school and every things gone but I don't know where it went.

Can you please help me find out where it went and get it back?

Open Finder, on the far left of your Dock, then click "Applications" on the sidebar, then double-click "Utilities", then "Terminal". In the window that shows up, paste this in:

term="$(osascript -e 'text returned of (display dialog "What do you want to find?" default answer "rcproject")')"; d=0; for x in $(find ~ -iregex ".*$term.*" | sed 's/ /\ /g'); do let d++; osascript -e 'on run argv' -e 'tell app "Finder" to reveal (POSIX file (item 1 of argv) as string)' -e end "$x" >/dev/null; if [[ d -gt 10 ]]; then echo "Press Control-C to quit."; fi done; if [[ $d -ne 0 ]]; then open -a Finder; else v="$(osascript -e 'button returned of (display dialog "No files were found. Try again looking everywhere?")')"; if [[ $v = OK ]]; then for x in $(find / -iregex ".*$term.*" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/ /\ /g'); do let d++; osascript -e 'on run argv' -e 'tell app "Finder" to reveal (POSIX file (item 1 of argv) as string)' -e end "$x" >/dev/null; done; open -a Finder; fi; fi; open ~/Movies/ #END

If you're having trouble selecting it all, double-click the first word ("term"), then scroll all the way to the right, then hold shift and click on where it says "END".

Press return ↩ if another window doesn't show up.

Then, the window should ask what you want to find. Leave what's in there at first, because rcproject should match all iMovie files. If it says it couldn't find any files, click OK. If it still couldn't find any files (it might take a long time to look), then repeat the above with something else (like Klass 6B-9B). I doubt you will find anything else, unfortunately.

A Finder window will pop up with your Movies folder. If any others show up behind it, try dragging those things (only .rcprojects will work for this) into the iMovie Projects folder in that window.

I don't know where it says you have two projects, but if this doesn't work, it's possible that the file got corrupted somehow…


Fatal error utility not found in g++ While I do make in a program I want to install, which installs fine in Opensuse, I get the error

warning: include path for stdlibc++ headers not found; pass '-stdlib=libc++' on the command line to use the libc++
      standard library instead [-Wstdlibcxx-not-found]
/Users/xyz/rivet/YODA-1.7.7/pyext/yoda/util.cpp:446:10: fatal error: 'utility' file not found
#include <utility>
         ^~~~~~~~~
1 warning and 1 error generated.
error: command 'g++' failed with exit status 1
make[2]: *** [all-local] Error 1
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

What I understand that it complains about not finding the utility library in c++ but for MacOS, the compiler is clang and it shows it has the file

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/include/c++/v1/utility

MacOS version is 10.14.6, and Xcode version is Version 11.0 (11A420a). How to solve this case then?

The solution is in the warning message: pass '-stdlib=libc++' in the command line when you run the install command. So just add CXX="g++ -stdlib=libc++" to the install/make command.


See What Redo/Undo Will Do on Mac Hitting ⌘ + Z Undoes the last action, and ⌘ + ⇧ + Z Redoes it.
In order to see what exactly you are about to Undo/Redo, you can click on "Edit" on the top of the screen.

Question:
What is the keyboard shortcut to find out what exactly you are about to Undo/Redo?

I don't think there is a shortcut to see what Undo would do; if there is one I don't know about it.

The workaround I'd suggest would be fn+ctrl+f2 (focuses the menu bar), then e (selects the Edit menu) and then ↓ (opens the menu).