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var directory deleted
- Thread starter andreshermoso
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The var folder in Macintosh HD / private / var?
Do you still have your install DVD? Maybe you can use that, and if you have Mac OS X 10.6, a re-install is quite easy.
But to make matters more interesting, what Mac OS X do you have?
Do you still have your install DVD? Maybe you can use that, and if you have Mac OS X 10.6, a re-install is quite easy.
But to make matters more interesting, what Mac OS X do you have?
On the off-chance you merely deleted Apple's symlink, here's how a repair might go:
sudo ln -sfh private/var /var
If you're doing that from single-user mode, skip the sudo but run mount -uw / first.
Actually deleting that "/private/var/" directory would take some doing (by a superuser).
Thanks for the quick reply.
It will be the /var folder right at / (root) folder. I've thought /private/var was somehow a symlink but I proved wrong. I have a MacBook Pro 15" (2006) Intel Core Duo A1150 running OS X 10.4.11
Thanks for the quick reply, I bet it would.
It will be the /var folder right at / (root) folder.
I need to make sure /var is actually a symlink to /private/var
Do you know that for sure? I'm doubting it, and need help ...
As you will see it seems to me that the system created /var when I entered the Taget Disk Mode. Browsing /private/var everything seems to be there, so I think I can breath again ....
I have a MacBook Pro 15" (2006) Intel Core Duo A1150 running OS X 10.4.11
I have a mac mini host running 10.4.11 and the MacBook Pro as a Target Disk both FireWire linked. I'm browsing the MBP disk and this is what I see:
MINI-1:/ administrator$ mount
/dev/disk0s3 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
<volfs> on /.vol
automount -nsl [180] on /Network (automounted)
automount -fstab [184] on /automount/Servers (automounted)
automount -static [184] on /automount/static (automounted)
/dev/disk1s1 on /Volumes/NO NAME (local, nodev, nosuid)
/dev/disk3s2 on /Volumes/Macintosh-HD (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
MINI-1:/ administrator$
MINI-1:/ administrator$ cd /Volumes/Macintosh-HD/
MINI-1:/Volumes/Macintosh-HD administrator$ ls
Applications Library bin mach.sym space2
BitTorrent.app Network cores mach_kernel tmp
Desktop DB System dev opt upnp.log
Desktop DF User Guides And Information etc private usr
Developer Users initfile.xml sbin var
External Volumes lib space wireless
Installer Log File automount mach space1
MINI-1:/Volumes/Macintosh-HD administrator$
MINI-1:/Volumes/Macintosh-HD administrator$ ls -R var
root
var/root:
Library
var/root/Library:
Autosave Information Caches Preferences
var/root/Library/Autosave Information:
var/root/Library/Caches:
PerianUpdateChecker
var/root/Library/Caches/PerianUpdateChecker:
01 13
var/root/Library/Caches/PerianUpdateChecker/01:
14
var/root/Library/Caches/PerianUpdateChecker/01/14:
3825993498-2811841262.cache
var/root/Library/Caches/PerianUpdateChecker/13:
03
var/root/Library/Caches/PerianUpdateChecker/13/03:
4127968977-0580983351.cache
var/root/Library/Preferences:
ByHost com.apple.HIToolbox.plist org.perian.Perian.plist
QuickTime Preferences com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs.plist
var/root/Library/Preferences/ByHost:
MINI-1:/Volumes/Macintosh-HD administrator$
MINI-1:/Volumes/Macintosh-HD administrator$ ls private/
etc tftpboot tmp var
MINI-1:/Volumes/Macintosh-HD administrator$ ls private/var
at audit backups cron db empty launchd lib log mail msgs named netboot root run rwho samba spool tmp vm xgrid yp
MINI-1:/Volumes/Macintosh-HD administrator$
Please advise
andres.hermoso@gmail.com
Code:
drwxrwxr-x+ 75 root admin 2550 Apr 30 07:58 Applications
drwxrwxr-x@ 17 root admin 578 Apr 6 07:18 Developer
drwxrwxr-t+ 60 root admin 2040 Apr 30 07:50 Library
drwxr-xr-x@ 2 root wheel 68 Apr 4 15:53 Network
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 Mar 29 10:06 System
drwxr-xr-x 5 root admin 170 Dec 21 20:38 Users
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root admin 170 May 8 15:39 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 39 root wheel 1326 Mar 29 10:03 bin
drwxrwxr-t@ 2 root admin 68 Jun 22 2009 cores
dr-xr-xr-x 3 root wheel 4210 May 6 14:43 dev
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 Dec 21 20:28 etc -> private/etc
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 1 May 6 14:44 home
-rw-r--r--@ 1 root wheel 18659362 Feb 3 22:19 mach_kernel
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 1 May 6 14:44 net
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root admin 102 Jan 1 02:25 opt
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 root wheel 204 Dec 21 20:38 private
drwxr-xr-x@ 64 root wheel 2176 Mar 29 10:03 sbin
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 Dec 21 20:28 tmp -> private/tmp
drwxr-xr-x@ 14 root wheel 476 Apr 6 07:21 usr
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11 Dec 21 20:28 var -> private/varIt is most definitely a symlink to /private/var.
P.S. posting your email on an public web site is a good way for it to get picked up by a spam bot.
Yep, 110% sure.
Eyeballing those listings, my guess is that some installer (Perian's perhaps?) has removed the symlink and replaced it with a folder. IOW, you now have two "var" directories:
/var
/private/var
That is a bad config. Apple has deliberately abstracted the /var directory by shifting it over to /private/var and added that symlink so that programs which expect pathnames (such as /var/run) to work will still work. The situation you have now must be corrected.
One could try (i suppose) to "patch up" the mistake by moving items from the bogus /var folder over to the /private/var folder where Apple would have wanted them... and then delete that /var folder and restore the symlink as i advised in post #3.
idunno about the patching part, but really... that /var folder needs to go, and the symlink does need to be restored.
Thanks for the quick reply.
Sure posting the email was a dumb idea under a desperate situation.
I'll clone that hard drive and make sure I'll watch myself when using terminal next time. I'm not exactly sure about how to fix this situation.
Hal Itosis told me to sudo ln -sfh private/var /var
Now I'm asking myself about the owner/group/permissions
I think your "ls" output would help me out here.
Please advise.
Andres
Sure posting the email was a dumb idea under a desperate situation.
I'll clone that hard drive and make sure I'll watch myself when using terminal next time. I'm not exactly sure about how to fix this situation.
Hal Itosis told me to sudo ln -sfh private/var /var
Now I'm asking myself about the owner/group/permissions
I think your "ls" output would help me out here.
Please advise.
Andres
Advise what? The "owner/group/permissions" on a symlink? Upon creation they will be derived from the effective user privileges, the group of the parent directory and the current umask (or some such criteria). But what would that matter? The purpose of a symlink is to transport action toward the target... so the target's perms etc., are what's most important... and we can always use Disk Utility to reset those modes for us (if necessary).
What may happen is that the newly created symlink will end up being visible... so some additional step may be needed to hide it. Worry about that if/when you get there (as that is purely a cosmetic issue, not critical for any function).
Thanks Hal.
I'll do what you told me before and I'll post the results so everybody will be able to read them and know.
Thanks again.
Andres.
I'll do what you told me before and I'll post the results so everybody will be able to read them and know.
Thanks again.
Andres.