System Icon Viewed on Network

[jasnw]

I'm on a new M2Pro Mini with Ventura 13.2.1. When I look at this system in Finder from another Mac on my network (an Intel Mini running Monterey 12.6.3) the icon shown on the other Mac is a question mark in the main Finder window and as a document icon in the sidebar. I'm able to open the connection OK, but what's the problem here? Is this Ventura not correctly letting the Monterey-based system know what hardware it's on, or do the older-than-Ventura macOS systems not recognize this new hardware?

 

[Bigwaff]

I don't believe you. Picture, please. ;-)

 

[jasnw]

Well, dirty-word! Now that I go to get a picture for you it is now WORKING! I had seen this issue from a different Mac with a much older OS (El Cap) while I was transferring my stuff from that system to this new one, but I didn't post then because of the age difference between the OSs. I posted this time because I was seeing the same behavior from a much newer macOS version. Silly me, I didn't give the system time to think about what it was seeing and posting the appropriate icon.

So, nothing to see here, and I apologize for wasting everyone's time.

 

[jasnw]

And........ now it's back to where I started. Here's what I'm seeing in Finder on the Montery system. seattle is the M2Pro Mini, paloma is an Intel MBP, and tombstone is an Intel Mini. Only seattle is running Ventura. I should have taken a screenshot when it appeared to be working, but I THOUGHT IT WAS WORKING!! Anyway, ideas anyone?

 

[Bigwaff]

I have a suspicion but need to confirm something before I post a lengthy dense response...

If you change the view from "as List" to "as Icons", etc. does the icon change? If so, post screenshot.

What icon do you see when your right-click on "seattle" in the sidebar and choose "Get Info" ? Should be the same as icon when you choose "as Icons".

 

[jasnw]

No changes, and Get Info shows ? as the icon and the preview.

 

[Bigwaff]

I'm able to open the connection OK, but what's the problem here? Is this Ventura not correctly letting the Monterey-based system know what hardware it's on, or do the older-than-Ventura macOS systems not recognize this new hardware?

Your intuition is correct but the "why" is complicated, however, it does make sense. The items you see in "Network" and in the sidebar under "Locations" announce their presence on the network via Bonjour (Multicast DNS; the mDNSResponder process). Part of the Bonjour protocol (it is very much like DNS protocol) includes an optional text string in the "record" specifying "device info". Apple has chosen to use specific "device info" strings in its Bonjour service implementation which represent specific Apple devices. We'll circle back around to this in a moment.

The Finder sidebar icons come from a library bundle called CoreServices. This bundle contains a plist with entries for icons that appear in the Finder and the sidebar. Each entry has a key and a reference to a resource icon. Apple has chosen to use these plist entry keys as the "device info" string in its Bonjour service implementation. When Apple's Bonjour client (via the Finder on Monterey) handles the reply from the Bonjour service (from Ventura), it looks for the optional "device info" string and matches it to the entry key in the plist and looks up the appropriate resource icons for the Finder and the sidebar. This why one sees icons for different Apple devices in "Network" and the sidebar "Locations".

That explains the mechanics but doesn't explain why there is a "question" mark icon in the Finder or a "generic file" icon in the sidebar. macOS has a system icon cache so it can display icons super fast. Sometimes this cache can get corrupted. Usually a restart will clear the cache. Another scenario could be the Bonjour service (from Ventura on the M2 mini) is sending a "device info" string that is not in the CoreService bundle in Monterey. The Bonjour client (via the Finder on Monterey) can't match the plist entry key and thus can't locate the resource icon, hence the default "question" mark icon. The "generic file" icon is the default sidebar icon when there is no matching plist entry key for a sidebar resource icon. I would imagine a future update to Monterey will update the CoreService bundle plist and resource icons to include an entry for the M2 mini. However, given Apple's track record for fixing irritants of this type, I wouldn't count on it.

 

[jasnw]

Thanks. This makes sense, and I share your view that I can't expect a fix any time soon. This does make Apple look a bit shoddy, however. They need to update their slogan from "It just works" to "It just works; not well perhaps, but it works." When I was writing code for the USAF (many years ago) one of my co-workers followed the mantra of "runs to fin, put it in" for implementing code changes. I think he now works for Apple.