mach_kernal on my HD

[macrlz9]

ok i don't know what happened but all of a sudden the mach_kernal file is actually visible on my HD..... my comptuer works just fine it's just scary and annoying that it is appearing now..... any ideas why? or how can i hide it?

 

[freiheit]

I don't know. Where is it (what folder)? What method are you using to see it? Are you logged in as root or a normal user? What version of OSX?

 

[macrlz9]

I don't know. Where is it (what folder)? What method are you using to see it? Are you logged in as root or a normal user? What version of OSX?

10.4.2 normal user with administrator access and it's in the root level of the HD

 

[macrlz9]

the botlib.log file is from halo... or is it quake 3? well one of those 2 that damn file doesn't go away but i dont' really care, the mach_kernal is very important that's why i dont like it just chillin there.

 

[MisterMe]

ok i don't know what happened but all of a sudden the mach_kernal file is actually visible on my HD..... my comptuer works just fine it's just scary and annoying that it is appearing now..... any ideas why? or how can i hide it?

Have you done a reinstall of your OS?

 

[macrlz9]

Have you done a reinstall of your OS?

well i'm sure that would solve the problem, but i just didn't wanna go thru the hassle. if no one has any ideas i'll just ignore it until i feel like reinstalling again.

 

[iMeowbot]

It looks like it lost its invisible attribute.

If you have Xcode installed, you can use this command:

sudo /Developer/Tools/SetFile -a V /mach_kernel

If you don't have that handy, you can use XRay to flip it.

(to see the changes you will need to restart the Finder, control-option-click on Finder's Dock icon and relaunch.)

 

[freiheit]

It's interesting, but i"m sure it can be safely ignored. It's viewable from the Terminal so it's not like it's a huge privacy concern -- if anyone wanted to get at it, they could even if it wasn't showing in Finder. As long as the security and permissions on the file are set right, I don't think there's anything to worry about.

 

[Makosuke]

I'd go with ignoring it as well, but I can definitely see why it's wigging you out--it either is supposed to be set with an invisible attribute, so it gives pause when that suddenly changes for no apparent reason. Sure, its being visible doesn't hurt, but the question is why.

Did you, out of curiosity, install anything before you noticed this? Perhaps some 3rd party program, or run a disk utility of some sort? That might explain it.

Two things you might try if you haven't already: repairing permissions might include the visibility bit, which would fix it. That, and run whateer disk utilities you do have to see if they report anything amiss with the drive that might indicate a more significant problem. Just to be paranoid.

 

[iMeowbot]

It's probably nothing serious. There were some changes in Tiger that can make some pretty mundane activities unhide those files. One case is covered here.

Out of curiosity I tried twiddling some visibility flags and seeing if Disk Futility's repair permissions would notice, and it ignores that. Oh well.

 

[BoswellsJohnson]

The same thing has just happened to my system too.

I am dowloading the new update 10.4.6 as I type this. Hopefully this will rectify the situation.