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Os X best practice for applications

grkuntzmd

grkuntzmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 11, 2008
13
0
New Jersey, US
I am soon (Apple can release the i5/i7 Macbook Pros anytime) to become a Mac user. I have been a *nix developer for years.

What is the "best practice" for application installation. Is it common for people to create a personal Applications folder? I am thinking of what happens when I have to upgrade to a newer version of Os X. I am hoping to not have to re-install all of my apps.

On my Linux laptop (Ubuntu 9.10 x64), I install all applications in /opt, which I just backup before doing an upgrade.

Thanks, Ralph
 
OSX comes with a default Applications folder. This is where all the applications are stored and executed from.
 
grkuntzmd said:
I understand this, but then upgrading the OS requires re-installing, the thing I am trying to avoid.
Click to expand...

grkuntzmd said:
Right, but what is the "best practice"?
Click to expand...

Please use multi-quote when responding to multiple threads. Its the icon in to the bottom right.

Most applications do not require re-installtion as all the info for the particular app is store within the App package itself, generally stored within the Application folder.

I would think this is also best practice.
 
Its best to always keep Apples programs in the application folder.
I put other third party programs in another application folder on a different hard drive. At most if I do have to reload the OS, then I only have to move preference files for the third party apps and maybe reauthorize one or two
 
stridemat said:
Please use multi-quote when responding to multiple threads. Its the icon in to the bottom right.

Most applications do not require re-installtion as all the info for the particular app is store within the App package itself, generally stored within the Application folder.

I would think this is also best practice.

--

Please Answer my dissertation survey
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that Apple recommended reformatting the HD for an upgrade. If not, then the /Applications is probably best.

Thanks.

BTW, I can't answer your survey as I am not in the UK.
 
If I understand your query properly then just install apps into your Applications folder.

When it comes time to upgrade OS X Apple tend to include an 'upgrade' install option that will leave your existing Applications folder intact rather than the start-from-scratch 'clean install'. Any new apps that come with the new version of the OS will be added to the existing Applications folder, and as much as possible OS X will make sure any settings files remain where they should be too.

The vast majority of applications will indeed run from wherever you want to put them (different locations on different volumes even), but I think 'best practice' for them is considered to be the Applications folder on your boot disk.

Some will no doubt tell you that they don't trust the 'upgrade' install option and like to do a clean install with every major revision. Personally I always pick 'upgrade' and have never had a major problem. I would always recommend people have a good backup or two (I make a complete clone using Carbon Copy Cloner) before upgrading the OS anyway.
 
I've been running Linux on my laptop since last June (2009), with Windoze in a VMWare session for things like iTunes (to sync my iPhone) and MS Outlook.

It will be so nice to NOT have to start the VMWare session every day.

I just wish Apple would get off their collective butts and release the new i5/i7 laptops. I certainly can't justify replacing my current laptop (Dell Inspiron 1720 with 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo) with another Core 2 Duo machine, especially when the rumors are flying that the Macbook Pro upgrade is imminent.
 
grkuntzmd said:
I was under the impression that Apple recommended reformatting the HD for an upgrade..
Click to expand...
No, they actually have an option called archive and install. It leaves your home directory and applications alone and only installs the OS.

Very useful when you hose the system and want to reinstall ;)

Many people here prefer to reformat and install but that's not something apple recommends. Personally I prefer the reformat/install approach but its a personal preference.
 
grkuntzmd said:
I understand this, but then upgrading the OS requires re-installing, the thing I am trying to avoid.
Click to expand...

Hello grkuntzmd, coming from a linux background, I think your going to be well pleased with OS X. It has all the speed and stability of a good unix based system, and is very well organized. You will find that allot of thing that you have learned about linux, hold true in OS X as well. A few differences would be that everything is on one partition, vs. the root, swap, and home partitions you might be used to in linux. And as for applications, for the most part, they are contained in packages (which are actually just a folder that contains all the app files), which you can simply drag to your Application folder to install. If you decide later to get rid of the app, drag it to the trash bin and it's gone. Nothing left behind except for some configuration files in your user directory. One exception to this rule would be a program such as virtualbox, which needs to install kernel extensions and other files. But it does come with a uninstall script, which is typical of apps that install files outside of the Application folder.

There is no need to reinstall OS X when upgrading. There are some who prefer a clean install, but in my experience, it's not necessary. One thing I would recommend is getting a external hard drive. Then download Carbon Copy Cloner. It's a great little app that will clone your Mac hard drive to your external drive, or a partition on the external if you prefer. Plus if you put a GUID Partition Table on your external drive, you can plug it into your Mac, and boot from the clone. Very handy if you ever trashed your system. Or I assume it would be, I'm still waiting for my first app crash ;)
 
grkuntzmd said:
I was under the impression that Apple recommended reformatting the HD for an upgrade. If not, then the /Applications is probably best.
Click to expand...

For most users, Apple recommends doing an upgrade install. Since that's one of the details that Apple spends a lot of sweat on, it generally just works.

I've had Apples as my home/recreation machines since 10.2, and I've always done Archive and Installs for upgrades, never a complete format. The upgrade to Snow Leopard came with a new machine, and all I had to do was plug in the Time Machine backup of the old Leopard machine, and I was back up with a new computer in about half an hour with all my programs and configurations set.
 
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