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Mac OS X Update 10.2.4 Resets
Oculus Habent writes "It may just be me, but 10.2.4 reset a number of settings on my computer, including icon sizes, window positions, and dock size and contents. Minor annoyances, but completely unnecessary. Is anyone else experiencing this?" As for me, Apple re-added some apps to my Dock and overwrote all my changes to httpd.conf (though it did back it up first) to add mod_rendezvous_apple. But those problems pale in comparison to some others: Anonymous Coward writes "If you upgraded your Mac desktop to 10.2.4 last weekend, check your date and time. Many users have suddenly found it to be 4:00 PM, December 31, 1969 again. Apparently, this happens whenever they are shut down or restarted, and resetting the motherboard and/or the PRAM doesn't fix it. Complaints have been piling up at Apple.com and prices for batteries have been skyrocketing - but relax. It's not your battery!"
I updated two computers.... G4 and an iBook. The only issue I had was needing to modify my httpd conf for on the G4 for PHP. No date issues....no moved icons..no lost internet...no droppy socks and the cat still has two different colored eyes.
I submit that as usual, the majority of issues are not directly related to 10.2.4. If you move apps where Apple's installer doesn't expect them to be (and don't whine how it is your computer and not Apple's), you'll have boinked links, and dock icon issues. If you've done a poor original install, you'll have issues with system updates, whether the bad install was your gift to the afternoon or not. Get over it...the sky hasn't fallen...this is not OS 9, and the sooner we all get used to a modern OS the happier we will be.
So now it's proven, Slashdot is the cause of all problems!
Everything worked fine for me. Nothing reset, no changes to the Dock. I don't know if it makes a difference but I downloaded the tar file directly and ran the update later, rather than using Software Update.
/tmp/filelist" to get a list of all files and dates. Then run it again after the update and diff the two lists. That will show you httpd.conf changed, for instance. Also it's just interesting to see what files change on the machine as I learn about the OS. You can also get lists of files from the archive itself or from the "bill of materials" file ("man lsbom") after installation.
/iNode12022737 is for? I keep seeing files like that in the root dir...
Haven't seen any time/date changes, but my clock is set by NTP anyway.
PS: One thing I like to do before any major update is run something like "find -s / >
PPS: does anybody know what the file
I thought it was rather odd as well. I had icons for iChat, the addressbook, and some other applications that weren't on the dock pre-update. My time wasn't affected to my recollection, but some of my other prefs were.
Know what I did? I removed the icons, and fixed my prefs. Then I promptly forgot about the whole thing and got on with my life.
I did find it strange though... That sort of thing has never happened to me before
Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
I'm guessing the installer/updater plays along with the *NIX user system, right? So what about "chmod a-w httpd.conf" for protecting your httpd settings? If you don't want your settings modified by Apple, use the power of *NIX against it!
Or does this not work?
This sig intentionally left bla... dammit!
Who's got the whiteout?
So, am I the only one who thinks that some people in the UK must spend altogether too much time sitting around in club chairs drinking and inventing new words and idiomatic expressions that mean nothing but *sound* extremely British, and are thus adopted by the pretentious?
Babar
I keep a sparse dock of one of my logins and nothing was added to the dock. Nothing was removed or added to my normal login which has about 20 items kept on the dock.
No new aliases were created on my desktop (Such as for mail, Internet or the like). None of my preferences were overwritten or contradicted.
My clock stayed at the correct time and date, and my network connection stayed configured manually just the was I had it set. (then again, perhaps my time WAS messed up and the auto-time-set feature reset it before I logged in, I just don't know).
That said, if there were going to be any inherent problems with the installer, I would likely be the one to find them. I'm running on and old Biege G3/333 that is overclocked (CPU and bus), with 3 monitors (one from internal, two from an ATI 7000/PCI), a USB/Firewire card, a SCSI card, third party everything in the system except the motherboard and power supply.
Seems to me that if anyone's system broke as a result of the update, that there was something REALLY flakey about the config beforehand, or it is just random coincidence and they are just assigning blame where there really is none.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
First, you must remember that a large majority of Mac users (usually those who were around before OS X) know little or nothing about BSD or *nix. And they shouldn't have to. The sysadmin "don't fix it unless it's broke" philosophy is not the consumer "I want the latest and greatest" philosophy. These people buy Macs so they won't have any hassles. When Software Update pops up, they just want to click install and be done with it. Most of the time, this is fine and there are no problems.
On the other hand, you do have geeks who will take a more "wait and see" approach, many of whom have the advantage testing it on one machine before putting it on their other boxes. This is fine, but I've found that with OS X it is usually not necessary. I've tried every update on my Powerbook before throwing it on my Cube, and never have I had to wait long because there haven't been any problems. Despite the inevitable horror stories that come with each update, the grand majority of OS X users don't have any problems.
No hacks, no unpublished APIs. The only beta SW running in OS X I have is Navigator (Chimera), Safari, and X11. I leave nearly everything where Apple put it, because it doesn't bother me to do so.
I'm connecting with an AirPort card. I have Atlanta as the closest city. I have Time Sync and Software Update's Auto-Check disabled. I have one user, who logs in automatically. The user icon is the half of an orange. I had no Sharing services running at the time. I have a single LaserJet 4 specified in my Print Center. I have my root user enabled.
I use Mail for mail. Address Book for addresses. iCal for a calendar. iTunes for music. Safari for web, with Chimera s backup. Sherlock for some searches, and Text Edit for most of my simple writing. I use Terminla to connect to an HP-UX box at work. I use a VPN connection with Internet Connect sometimes, but not during the update. I have primarily generic US settings.
My Trash was empty. My battery indicator is set to Percent. I have the Day of Week showing in the Menu Clock. My sound was on. I have the Developer Tools installed, but don't really use them.
Does it bother me that something changed? Yes. Am I worried about hosing my machine with the next update? No. Have I sworn of Macs forever? Much to Microsoft's dismay, no.
Why me, then? I don't know. Maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
The cause of all these problems is simple, and I'm amazed that Apple overlooked it. The new version number, 10.2.4, overruns the 11-bit signed integer field that Apple devotes to the version numbers for their operating systems. This causes the system to think it's version -10.2.4, and extrapolating on the rate of Apple software releases allows one to easily calculate the date that this release should have taken place: Version 1.0.0 in 1984 and Version 10.2.3 in 2003 gives version -10.2.4 to be precisely January 1, 1970. The 1969 dates are due to a roundoff error, and only occur in G3s without Altivec support.
As no version earlier than OS 8 has network time support, the new "old" system does not attempt to update from a network time server. The reverted files and dock icons are simply the computer's attempt to show the files as they exist at the "current" time.
A patch may take awhile, due to the difficulty of updating all the old system routines that use the 11-bit signed int format.
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
Quite so. In fact one might say it's a rather unfortunate side-effect of being British. I would venture to say that within that milieu there are shades of subtlety that would be lost on the typical brash overstimulated American, who for the most part has no appreciation for understatement, having beaten his head against life for so long.
-- thinkyhead software and media
You're complaining about `doddle', right? (Process of elimination.) Okay, it means `something easily done or achieved'. It's a perfectly common* word round our way. Everyone happy now?
(* in both senses)
I tell you what: I'll start worrying about writing so that even the simplest Yank can understand me if you Yanks start writing so we can understand, all right?! (I wonder who will have to change the most there...)
[fx: wanders off muttering about who invented the bloody language in the first place...]
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
Hi all,
Firstly I have to say unfortunately there are inherent problems with this update, and the one about the clock resetting to Jan 1 1970 (plus or minus a few hours depending on your time zone) is absolutely true as I am experiencing it myself.
It does however only seem to be affecting fual processor G4's though, so that may explain the mixed reaction.
If you are still in doubt, check Apple's discussion board here where there are a total of 66 replies to my original post complaining of the clock issue (hopefully link will work, if not, check out the OSX area under discussions on Apple.com).
It seems that a large number of people are having this trouble, and although there is no way I would ever switch to another platform after using OSX, it is disappointing that Apple allows these things through the net.
Although OSX is vastly superior to Windows XP, I simply can't imagine MS distributing an update for Windows that would have this fundamental effect. I think that Apple should make sure they concentrate also on the mundane routine stuff in checking as well as the super-cool revolutionary stuff they are so uniquely good at (Rendezvous, Bluetooth integration, iApps etc etc).
Here's waiting for a fix VERY soon.
-Nex
This sig has been deprecated.
This is not your mommy's OS 9 box any more kids. It's a "real" OS with serious power! You can't treat it like OS 9 or even like Windows 98. I noticed immediately that my httpd.conf file had been overwritten and simply copied it back, restarted apache and tested the rest of my system. Other than the downtime to reboot and make the .conf change I had no downtime.
There are bound to be problems with any update. Not all installations are identical, so there are bound to be unforseen changes. I can't speak to the time problems because I use NTP. It is important that my system has the correct time - not just what my mickey mouse watch tells me.
Overall, I'm very happy with the update - my system is as rock-solid as ever!
"terrorism" and "pedophilia" are the root passwords to the Constitution