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Removal of designable.nib files in Leopard apps

M

mac2x

macrumors 65816
Original poster
So these files are totally useless to the end user, and I've read that they shouldn't have even been included in the Leopard apps.

I removed the whole mess of them today, and I've noticed ~700 MB freed up and many of the apps (Mail especially, which had nearly 200 MB of these nib files) are down very close to their sizes in SL. And they are snappier to launch. Well worth doing even if you don't really need disk space (I didn't; was just slimming things down a bit).
 
From apple
Files in the nib and xib formats play a very important role in the creation of applications. In their primary role, nib files simplify the code you have to write to create your application’s user interface. They provide a loadable set of objects that replace the code you would write to create windows, views, and other interface-related items. In some applications, nib files also provide a means to integrate these interface items with the existing objects in your application.

The nib and xib file formats themselves provide you with options for the development of your projects. Although they represent the same information, you use each type of file differently. The xib file format is preferred during development because it provides a SCM-friendly format, and because xib files can be compared with the diff command. At build time, Xcode automatically converts your project’s xib files to nib files so that they can be deployed with your application. If you have existing nib files, however, you can also continue saving to that same format.
Click to expand...

I'd say that if they're part of the application package, I'd not want to delete them and if you're that hard pressed for space that you go into the contain files to delete the nib files, I'd recommend upgrading your HD.
 
mac2x said:
So these files are totally useless to the end user, and I've read that they shouldn't have even been included in the Leopard apps.
Click to expand...

Seeing as it's been about three months since your post, have you had any issues with your OSX install since you deleted them? I'm thinking of doing the same (I don't do anything amazingly important on my Mac so I don't mind about having to reinstall) using the stunningly dodgy command from the root:

Code: 
sudo find . -type f -name "designables.nib" -exec rm -f {} \;

Which scans the drive for that file and deletes it each time it finds it.

I'll probably do the language removal, too, just for kicks. Hope it all went well for you!

:edit:

I'm still reading into the pros/cons of doing this, so I haven't run the command yet!
 
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