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Apple Releases 11.2.1 iTunes Update to Fix Hidden '/Users' Folder Bug

Now why the hell is iTunes messing with permissions is a mystery. So much for the sandboxing advice.

Glad that my home folder is on another partition, didn't even notice the bug.
 
thesneakerpimp said:
Can't find my iPhoto its not on my Macbook anymore. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

What is exactly is the problem? "iPhotos" is an application. It would be in the /Applications folder.

Or do you mean iPhots can't find for iPhotos library. If that is the case then is the library there where it should be in /Photos or is it gone.

This is the wrong thread to ask for help. Please repost in the forums section and include the above details
 
haha, this is funny...

coincidentally right after installing the update I was looking to backup my new parallels Win8.1 vm which I set to be shared between all users and was like 'where the h* is my users folder'?! thought i lost my mind for a bit clicking through finder and path finder before realizing something had set my 'show hidden files' which is normally checked to unchecked and my vpn TunnelBlock kept complaining about permissions changes on folders.

so yeah, I was bit by this. glad they got it figured out.
 
i never update

i read very carefully before i update if the details don't pertain to my needs i leave the update alone, otherwise i screw myself and buy a new computer every time. i love you all and i love to spend all my money too.
 
hagar said:
More importantly, why isn’t iTunes sandboxed? We, as developers, have to sandbox our applications to the extreme, but Apple can release a (mediocre) music player that screws up the OS?
Click to expand...

This is not caused by iTunes. It was caused by the there update process. So even if it is "sandboxed" it would make no difference.
 
bumblebritches5 said:
The "bug" was almost certainly due to a line of code in the pre/post install scripts, that included this single line of text: chflags hidden /Users

seriously, that's all it takes, and it has NOTHING to do with iTunes actual code.
Click to expand...

No, in this case /Users disappeared at any time after enabling Find My Mac, not necessarily when iTunes was installed. There was something in either iTunes or the framework that got installed which had an issue.
There is a postinstall script in the 11.2.1 install package which fixes the visibility and permissions but that's not the only fix.

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ChrisA said:
This is not caused by iTunes. It was caused by the there update process. So even if it is "sandboxed" it would make no difference.
Click to expand...
It wasn't caused by the update/install process.
 
david401 said:
Nothing? I was working on a project at 2 am while I discovered I could not copy my 70gb project folder over to my laptop via thunderbolt because the users folder was hidden. I needed to get up at 5:30 am to bring the project over to a finishing suite to meet the clients deadline. This bug was not "absolutely nothing".
Click to expand...

The fix was trivial, un-hide /users. Took me like three seconds.

MacOS has a "chflags" command for setting and unsetting these flags. It's a little like the much older and more well know "chmod" for changing permissions (or "modes")

It was not hard to figure out. I figured I was able to log in and see my files so obviously /users was still there. So the only possibility was Finder was not showing it. So I go to the terminal and see it's really still there just set to hidden. I un-hide it.

99% of Mac OS users don't even now what a /users directory is or that it even exists and so were not effected by this
 
ArmCortexA8 said:
As a precaution run Disk Utility to check and repair permissions - I agree it should not be required, but it will fix it. No issues at all on my MacBook Air with any of these updates. I wish Apple would only release a patch to fix the issue, instead of having to fully download iTunes repeatedly - thats not acceptable.
Click to expand...

When I just checked permissions with DU it came up with a long, long list of iTunes .nib files that it wants to change from -rw-r--r-- to drwxr-xr-x. That's a hell of a permissions change from file to directory. Is that right? There were also a few other things.

I don't think this is over.
 
chrfr said:
No, in this case /Users disappeared at any time after enabling Find My Mac, not necessarily when iTunes was installed. There was something in either iTunes or the framework that got installed which had an issue.
There is a postinstall script in the 11.2.1 install package which fixes the visibility and permissions but that's not the only fix.

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It wasn't caused by the update/install process.
Click to expand...

Hm that is interesting, thanks for correcting me.
 
NMBob said:
When I just checked permissions with DU it came up with a long, long list of iTunes .nib files that it wants to change from -rw-r--r-- to drwxr-xr-x. That's a hell of a permissions change from file to directory. Is that right? There were also a few other things.

I don't think this is over.
Click to expand...

Yep, any time they come out with an emergency fix in a matter of hours you have to wonder how deeply they looked to make sure their fix hasn't broken something else.
 
NMBob said:
When I just checked permissions with DU it came up with a long, long list of iTunes .nib files that it wants to change from -rw-r--r-- to drwxr-xr-x. That's a hell of a permissions change from file to directory. Is that right? There were also a few other things.

I don't think this is over.
Click to expand...
I don't see those permissions changes on a few computers here. No issues to report after installing 11.2.1.
 
CFreymarc said:
I bet the "bug" was not in the release per say but a bad revision system build with the wrong source code pulled into the make. That has burned me a few times.
Click to expand...

I find it really rather frightening that Apple's software testing apparently is non-existing. Apple really have to step up to prevent these amateur bugs in the future... 😱
 
david401 said:
Nothing? I was working on a project at 2 am while I discovered I could not copy my 70gb project folder over to my laptop via thunderbolt because the users folder was hidden. I needed to get up at 5:30 am to bring the project over to a finishing suite to meet the clients deadline. This bug was not "absolutely nothing".
Click to expand...

Do I really need to point out who's fault it is that you applied a system update and an update to a *media player* to a critical production machine approaching a deadline?

Yes. Apple shouldn't have broken it. But your problem was entirely of your own making.

People need to actually realize what they're doing.

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ChrisA said:
This is not caused by iTunes. It was caused by the there update process. So even if it is "sandboxed" it would make no difference.
Click to expand...

Not so, as the hidden attribute and the permissions change was getting re-applied after a restart.

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bumblebritches5 said:
The "bug" was almost certainly due to a line of code in the pre/post install scripts, that included this single line of text: chflags hidden /Users
Click to expand...

The system doesn't re-run postinstall scripts on every restart.
 
hudson1 said:
Yep, any time they come out with an emergency fix in a matter of hours you have to wonder how deeply they looked to make sure their fix hasn't broken something else.
Click to expand...

Yup. Now I'm afraid to run SuperDuper!. The first thing it does is repair permissions. I guess I'll wait a bit, or go to the Apple discussions...although those are more of a zoo than actual help these days.
 
NMBob said:
Yup. Now I'm afraid to run SuperDuper!. The first thing it does is repair permissions.
Click to expand...
I've got no qualms about permissions repairs, and I'm continuing to run Time Machine, but I'm certainly not going to be updating my SuperDuper disk clone for a while yet.
 
Cougarcat said:
In 11.2 they added some drop down menus that should have been radio buttons and a dialog with yes/no action buttons. It's like an intern got ahold of the build and had some fun...
Click to expand...

I think the drop down menus are much easier to understand than what I envision a radio button UI would look and respond.
 
Calendar and contact syncs

can someone actually just confirm that syncing by wifi/USB without iCloud is possible for contacts and calendars now?
 
david401 said:
Nothing? I was working on a project at 2 am while I discovered I could not copy my 70gb project folder over to my laptop via thunderbolt because the users folder was hidden. I needed to get up at 5:30 am to bring the project over to a finishing suite to meet the clients deadline. This bug was not "absolutely nothing".
Click to expand...

So you updated an essential production system immediately without waiting to discover whether others had problems or not?

Bit careless no?
 
jafingi said:
I find it really rather frightening that Apple's software testing apparently is non-existing. Apple really have to step up to prevent these amateur bugs in the future... 😱
Click to expand...


Someday someone on the inside will write a tell-all book detailing all the freaky stuff that's going on there now.
 
david401 said:
Nothing? I was working on a project at 2 am while I discovered I could not copy my 70gb project folder over to my laptop via thunderbolt because the users folder was hidden. I needed to get up at 5:30 am to bring the project over to a finishing suite to meet the clients deadline. This bug was not "absolutely nothing".
Click to expand...

Why didn't you just do the copy from the Terminal?
 
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