Our Mac is set up with a normal user account for each family member, of which there are a few, so it seemed to me a waste of disk space and download data that everyone has their own Google Earth cache, which can grow quite large.
So, I was thinking it should be possible to set it up such that everyone shares a single cache, and I've done the following setup:
1) Create shared directory for caches
I created "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
Since "Library" isn't a default folder under Shared, I did a "chflags hidden" on it, so it doesn't show up in Finder and confuse the users.
2) Move an existing Google Earth cache to shared directory
mv "/Users/<normaluser>/Library/Caches/Google Earth/" "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
chmod -R g+rw "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
rmdir "/Users/<normaluser>/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
3) Set up link for every user to shared Google Earth cache
ln -s "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth" "/Users/<eachuser>/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
I have tested this with multiple users and it works like a charm:
If I zoom in (on Google Earth) to where a previous user has already been, the data is instantly there, telling me it's from the cache.
If I go somewhere else, it downloads the new data.
If I then log out and log in with another user and go there, the data is instantly there.
Just wanted to seek opinions as to whether this is a good idea or whether there's something I hadn't considered, thanks!
So, I was thinking it should be possible to set it up such that everyone shares a single cache, and I've done the following setup:
1) Create shared directory for caches
I created "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
Since "Library" isn't a default folder under Shared, I did a "chflags hidden" on it, so it doesn't show up in Finder and confuse the users.
2) Move an existing Google Earth cache to shared directory
mv "/Users/<normaluser>/Library/Caches/Google Earth/" "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
chmod -R g+rw "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
rmdir "/Users/<normaluser>/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
3) Set up link for every user to shared Google Earth cache
ln -s "/Users/Shared/Library/Caches/Google Earth" "/Users/<eachuser>/Library/Caches/Google Earth"
I have tested this with multiple users and it works like a charm:
If I zoom in (on Google Earth) to where a previous user has already been, the data is instantly there, telling me it's from the cache.
If I go somewhere else, it downloads the new data.
If I then log out and log in with another user and go there, the data is instantly there.
Just wanted to seek opinions as to whether this is a good idea or whether there's something I hadn't considered, thanks!
