Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the 7th version of Mac OS X released on August 28th, 2009.
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Where does $PATH get set in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard?
I type echo $PATH on the command line and get
...
85
votes
3answers
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Why does MDS run wild in Mac OS X 10.6?
I've been having trouble with the MDS process running wild on my MacBook Pro 13". I've read on other support forums indicating that improperly formatted external drives can be an issue, but I have no ...
82
votes
23answers
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What can I do to stop the Play / Pause button from opening iTunes?
In Snow Leopard the Play / Pause media button (on the F8 key) opens up iTunes. How can I disable that? Preferably keeping the old Leopard behaviour, so I can use it to control other media applications ...
39
votes
7answers
14k views
Why does the Mac OS X firewall dialog recurringly pop-up and disappear by itself (without letting me respond) under Snow Leopard?
From time to time, I'll be on my Macbook using a program that accesses the network – whether Firefox, or Sony's Reader Library – really, it seems like it could happen with any program that ...
37
votes
4answers
17k views
How to disable Mac OS X from using swap when there still is “Inactive” memory?
A common phenomena in my day to day usage (and several other's according to various posts throughout the internet) of OS X, the system seems to become slow whenever there is no more "Free" memory ...
34
votes
4answers
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How can I stop Mac OS X overriding my hostname when I receive a DHCP request on Snow Leopard?
Whenever I go on a network where the DHCP server assigns hostnames then it overrides the settings I've set for my hostname on my Mac in the "Sharing" section of System Preferences.
How do I stop this ...
32
votes
4answers
40k views
How to uninstall homebrew? (OSX Package Manager)
I've got some problems with this package manager. I can't find how to remove it!
Is it safe to remove whole /usr/local? Homebrew was installed somewhere in that directory.
32
votes
5answers
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Where to find the .bashrc file on Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion?
I want to install rvm on my Snow Leopard machine.
It says I need to add a line to my .bashrc file (I'm using bash) but where is my .bashrc file?
26
votes
4answers
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How do I mount ext2/ext3 partitions in Mac OS X Snow Leopard?
Is there anything that will natively allow read/write on an ext2/3 partition within Snowie?
Just don't want to get a Linux box to mount, and then access via samba. Although I could perhaps through ...
22
votes
8answers
20k views
Moving the swapfiles to a dedicated partition in Snow Leopard
I have been able to move Apple's virtual memory swapfiles to a dedicated partition on my hard drive up until now. The technique I have been using is described in a thread on forums.macosxhints.com.
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20
votes
6answers
15k views
Remove Spotlight icon from the menu bar
How do I remove the Spotlight icon from the Mac OS X menubar?
Note, I don't want to disable Spotlight (I use it). I just want to remove the icon.
20
votes
4answers
50k views
How can I change the default Python version on Snow Leopard?
I recently upgraded my Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard install to 10.6 Snow Leopard, and with that came an upgraded version of Python, 2.6.1 (instead if 2.5.1). Now when I type python in the Terminal i still ...
20
votes
14answers
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Disabling mouse acceleration in Mac OS X
I've been looking for a solution to the unusable mouse problem in Mac OS X for ages. I've tried a gazillion programs and fiddled with every setting there is or there can be added. So far, I haven't ...
19
votes
2answers
11k views
Fast User Switching/Apple Menu?
I like fast user switching but I'm not keen on it in my menu bar, I'm wondering if it's possible to put it in the Apple menu? Or somehow change the Logout option in the Apple menu to switch users ...
17
votes
7answers
16k views
“iTunes.app” to accept incoming network connections?
Every time I open iTunes I get the the following warning:
Do you want the application "iTunes.app" to accept incoming network connections?
Clicking Deny may limit the application's behavior. ...
16
votes
3answers
23k views
Hide users from Mac OS X Snow Leopard logon screen
Somehow, I managed to set a passwd for my _postgres user on my OS instead of setting it on the postgres role I have as my superuser / root. Anyways since this, I've been struggling with that user ...
15
votes
4answers
106k views
How do I upgrade to Snow Leopard without a CD drive?
I'm on a Intel Mac (desktop) which has a broken CD drive. Is there any way to install without buying an external CD drive?
14
votes
3answers
9k views
Increase the maximum number of open file descriptors in Snow Leopard?
I am trying to do something that requires a large number of file descriptors
sudo ulimit -n 12288 is as high as Snow Leopard wants to go; beyond this results in
/usr/bin/ulimit: line 4: ulimit: ...
14
votes
1answer
11k views
Why does emptying the trash in Snow Leopard take so long?
Since installing Mac OS X 10.6, whenever I empty the trash, it takes about 50x as long as it used to under 10.5. I just emptied about 100 files (totaling 50 megs / all local files), and it was about ...
14
votes
8answers
55k views
How can I change the system font size in OS X?
I'm using a Mac Mini on big flat-screen TV for playing media. The small font size is really annoying when sitting far away. Is there a way to increase the system font size in OS X?
14
votes
2answers
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Mac: What's ~/.CFUserTextEncoding for?
So I have this .CFUserTextEncoding file in my home dir. Google search results are less than ideal, filled with old ugly forum pages. Apple gives me an unrelated support article. ADC gives me an ...
14
votes
3answers
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Log of cron actions on OS X
Does the cron which comes with OS X log its actions anywhere?
I'm not looking for output of any particular cron job, but rather log of what cron is doing. On a couple linux machines I've checked, ...
14
votes
2answers
432 views
Where are the “inner workings” of Exposé in OSX?
I need to alter the action of "App Exposé" in Lion so that it behaves like the old Exposé in Snow Leopard that showed all apps at once.
Does anyone know where I would find the files that control ...
13
votes
5answers
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How can i quit frozen spotlight without rebooting my computer?
I opened up spotlight, typed '12*' to do some multiplication and it's been frozen for the last 20 minutes. I am looking for how to restart the program/service/whatever it technically is, but it's not ...
13
votes
3answers
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Where Are Wireless Passwords Stored on Mac OS X?
After the Snow Leopard update I can't connect to my home wifi router.
I removed it from Network Preferences and from Keychain but when I reconnect it will not ask me for the password.
All other ...
13
votes
10answers
17k views
Create a keyboard shortcut for fast user switching in Mac OS X
How do you create a keyboard shortcut that activates fast user switching (i.e. brings up the login window) in Mac OS X Snow Leopard?
I'm trying to emulate the Windows Start+L keyboard combination, ...
13
votes
3answers
10k views
How to set an icon for a file type on Mac?
How to set an icon for some file types thought the whole system?
For example, I have text files that ends with .scala extension and I want to associate an icon for that files through the whole system ...
13
votes
1answer
655 views
Emacs as daemon on OS X with window-system
I'm running gnu emacs 23.3.1 cocoa build on OS X 10.6.
I added the following to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/gnu.emacs.daemon.plist so that it will start a daemon and automatically restart emacs if I ...
12
votes
1answer
4k views
Are Time Machine backups incremental? And is Time Machine any better on Snow Leopard?
I would like to understand how Time Machine backups work and has this been made any better in Snow Leopard?
12
votes
1answer
6k views
Can't install Brew formulae correctly (Permission denied in /usr/local/lib)
I am installing a few Homebrew packages on a brand new Mac. However, there are some errors while linking:
ln: ./libsvn_wc-1.dylib: Permission denied
Error: The linking step did not complete ...
12
votes
7answers
13k views
Google Chrome constantly asking for Keychain permission?
My Google Chrome installation on Snow Leopard is asking for access to the keychain any time I go to a site with login information... This happened really suddenly - I've restarted and tried different ...
12
votes
3answers
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Is there an Xcode 4.2 for Snow Leopard?
I was looking for Xcode 4.2 for Snow Leopard.
I had heard that the official release for iOS 5 was also going to be Snow Leopard enabled.
I could not find Xcode 4.2 + iOS5 for Snow Leopard on Apple's ...
11
votes
4answers
3k views
Do I *have* to purchase the Snow Leopard box set?
I have Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), and I really don't want to purchase the iLife and iWork suite that the Box set includes.
Is the version of Snow Leopard in the Box Set different from the version which ...
11
votes
4answers
4k views
Change iTerm2 window and tab titles in zsh
I want to label the window tabs of terminal sessions. I'm using the zshell in iterm2 on OSX. Is it possible to change the label of a window tab dynamically in the terminal?
11
votes
3answers
12k views
How do I uninstall MySQL on Mac OS X (Snow Leopard)?
I had installed MySQL from the command line when I setup a local web server with custom modules on my Snow Leopard box. I recently discovered MAMP and its just easier to work with it than with the ...
11
votes
3answers
4k views
Python 2.6.1, pycrypto 2.3 pypi package: “Broken Pipe” during build
I am attempting to install Fabric, which requires pycrypto. During the build for pycrypto I always receive a "Broken Pipe" error. I don't know where to start to fix the problem.
I'm running Mac OS X ...
11
votes
3answers
20k views
How to disable Spotlight in Snow Leopard?
It seems previous Spotlight disabling method that worked in Leopard, no longer works in Snow Leopard.
How can I disable Spotlight in Snow Leopard?
11
votes
3answers
4k views
Bash on Snow Leopard doesn't obey terminal colours
With the new version of Snow Leopard, OS X upgraded the bash version to GNU bash, version 3.2.48(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin10.0).
Now, my .bashrc sets the following settings:
# Colors
export ...
11
votes
2answers
3k views
Default editor for files without file name extension in Mac OS X
I want to open files without file name extension, including .dotsystemfiles (e.g. .htaccess or .vimrc) with a different editor than TextEdit. Doing the regular Change All... in the Get Info panel ...
11
votes
7answers
4k views
Cleaning Up Mac OS X
Besides doing a fresh install, does anyone have any tips for uncluttering Mac OS X? I install and uninstall a fair few apps and find that after a while things start to chug. I was hoping there might ...
11
votes
3answers
11k views
Update git on mac
I can't remember how I installed git a while back....but now it's living in /usr/bin/git and needs to be updated.
I don't care how (pre-compiled or build my own) but what I don't want is another ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
How to disable slow motion effect in Mac OS X (shift key)?
Mac OS X has a fantastic feature that enables you to play window effects in slow motion by holding down the Shift key while playing the animation (like minimize, maximize, Exposé, etc...)
As a matter ...
10
votes
7answers
5k views
Why doesn't echo support “\e” (escape) when using the -e argument in MacOSX
When I try to print out some colored text using ANSI escape sequences via the built-in echo command, it seems that the \e escape sequence in the string I provide is interpreted literally instead of as ...
10
votes
5answers
3k views
Move file to Trash on Snow Leopard from Terminal
Snow Leopard allows users to "Put Back" files that were moved to the Trash from Finder. However, when I do mv <file> ~/.Trash from the command line I don't get the "Put Back" option.
Is there a ...
10
votes
2answers
21k views
What is locationd and why is my 3rd party firewall intercepting it in Snow Leopard at intervals?
Little Snitch reported an outgoing connection from locationd which appears to be a new daemon installed by default on Snow Leopard.
A search for strings inside the locationd binary shows a link to ...
10
votes
5answers
18k views
Can I monitor who is using my Mac OS X Internet Sharing?
I'm running Snow Leopard and I'm sharing my Verizon connection via my Mac's built-in AirPort. Is there any way for me to identify who/what is using my shared connection?
System Preferences » Sharing ...
10
votes
2answers
7k views
Starting application with custom keyboard shortcut
Mac OS 10.6 has a "Keyboard Shortcuts" preference pane in System Preferences. It lets you add new entries, but they don't seem to work. Is this the correct way to add hotkeys? For instance I would ...
10
votes
4answers
4k views
What software for Mac OS X can take auto screen captures at intervals?
I need a piece of software for Mac OS X 10.6 similar to AutoScreenShot for Windows that will take screenshots at intervals for me.
I'm trying to make a time-lapsed video of my work on an ...
10
votes
3answers
16k views
Is Truecrypt/Macfuse supported on Snow Leopard with 64-bit kernel?
TC runs, but I get this error when trying to mount a volume:
Failed to load
/Library/Filesystems/fusefs.fs/Support/fusefs.kext
- (libkern/kext) link error.
I've seen various posts talking ...
10
votes
3answers
16k views
Mac OS can't connect to SMB shares after sleep
I used to access my local Windows 2008 file server's SMB shares on my recent (3 weeks old) MacBook Pro without problems. However, for a few days now, it fails to (re-)connect to the server after it ...
