Unix Executables Invading My Mac - Help!

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:58 am

Looks like they're plotting to overthrow my Mac, and subsequently my empire.

A large chunk of my IR collection was deemed Unix Executable about 8 months ago, and I'd made it a part-time project to try to sort this out, but now text files, PDFs, CueMix configs, ClockWorks configs and other files have taken on this new identity too.
This is very frustrating; these are my backup files and they've been duplicated across several partitions and drives.

Any ideas at this point would be most welcome.

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:21 am

in finder prefs turn on "show all file extension" and then make sure these all have valid extensions (.pdf, .txt, .plist, et al). That should reassign their binding.

If you come to a situation where the file has no extension to assign it or you don;t know the extension, just do a 'get info" and select a new parent application using the "open with" pane.

In general, just because it has the UNIX Executable icon doesn't mean the files are misbehaving. It's just that the binding was lost and the OS is just defaulting to that fie type.

HTH

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:38 am

Ripper! Thank you Steve.

I'd forgotten about this 'cause it didn't work for me last year with the SD2s (the IRs) I mentioned.
The problem was that Altiverb (I only had a Demo) wasn't seen as an application, so I couldn't assign it no matter what I tried.

Your reminding me of the procedure should at least help me get some of the other files sorted.
Thank you again mate!

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:44 am

Well, I've now used FileType and still no luck.
Further, all sd2s on my Mac are now gone, except for the odd audio file in DP project folders.

Unfortunately, it appears that all my backups (across 4 drives) are corrupted in this way.
I'll report back when I can muster up the courage to face this; I've been overwhelmed and completely worn out anyway this last month.
You can bet that while I'm gone I'll be sweatin' bullets over the possibility of losing all my audio work and entire IR collection.
Crikey, I'll bet I've lost lyrics too (too afraid to check) seeing as a whole heap of .DOCs, .TXTs and .PDFs have suddenly headed south.

All I've done is upgrade to Intel and Leopard and set up internet parameters.
DP is installed but nothing else is, and DP's partition is only in image form.
FWIW, between the permissions problem I had throughout week 1 (mostly solved) and this, I've not had one second's fun in Leo yet. Crazy.

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:34 pm

woah - that can't be. There has to be something else going on here. I recommend not touching your backups until you straighten this out.

Do you have a spare FW drive to install Leopard on? Then boot from that and look over your HD. Maybe repair the disk/file system from the Install disc if you can (not permissions, but actually repair the disk itself).

Or...a 2nd Mac. Boot that and connect the troublesome Mac over FW via Target Disk Mode (boot while holding the 't' key, this will effectively make your Mac a big external FW drive).

Hang in there...

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:05 am

Doh! Too late Steve.

I had to do it - run DP and see if the Finder might make a connection between the app and the files.
The audio file icons didn't change, and I couldn't tell whether or not the soundbites played as the audio system wasn't up and running, but those whose icons had changed seemed to unhighlight almost straight away after being clicked in the SB window, rather than stick and play through.

The issue seems to be related to the fact that many files are labeled "L" and "R".
Same thing with my IRs; they have suffixes such as "C", "C1" etc, "L", "L1" etc., and are all SD2s.

Last night I downloaded a couple of free file/creator apps and Stuffit (the apps were presented as .sits), and found FileType 1.0.1 to be the most functional.
I changed the creators and types to what E'Loo recommended in another thread, but to no avail unfortunately.
I could get the icons to change to QT or DP's audio icon (I think - I no longer have a reference!), but couldn't audition them.

Not sure what to do next. Probably should take a break - I'm wasting summer on troubleshooting, and feel like I'm dicing with death here!

chucks · Post by **chucks** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:13 am

Since you were having permission problems prior to the unix executables issue, you may have applied a permission change from "Get Info". This may be of some help:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... 8&#6458908

Dave Bourke · Post by **Dave Bourke** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:22 pm

Nicky, do you still have the original Mac from which you transferred all your stuff? How did you actually do the transfer to the new Mac? If you used a Firewire drive or Firewire Target mode to do it, I wouldn't worry about what the new Mac's Finder is showing you on those drives because it's using the faulty database to display the data (good grief, I'm going senile ••“ I can't remember the correct word for this).

Did you try trashing the Finder .plist and restarting? That can sort out quite a lot of squirrelly stuff. Also, a PRAM reset might be an idea. Failing that, incense, bonfire, bodypaint, chicken, very sharp knife.

Kind regards.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:23 am

chucks wrote:Since you were having permission problems prior to the unix executables issue, you may have applied a permission change from "Get Info". This may be of some help:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... 8&#6458908

Man, that discussion went so far over my head, I needed binoculars just to watch the realtime printout.

Actually, the UNIX E. problem started 6-8 months ago when my IR lib was tragically cut at least in half.
It just seemed to continue on from there when I bought the new Mac.

Dave Bourke wrote:Nicky, do you still have the original Mac from which you transferred all your stuff? How did you actually do the transfer to the new Mac?

I traded the old Mac in, and removed my audio drive onto which I copied everything I could think of.
I only received 1/2 an hour's notice that the boss of the business was on his way to pick the thing up.
I had only just started burning my first backup disc when this happened, so I frantically quit the process, made the copy I mentioned and removed the drive, ripped the PCI 424-X and TC cards out of the machine and packed it up whilst simultaneously dealing with an agitated neighbour who had arrived at the front door in a panic after two trees from my yard had fallen into his.
Given the mad rush and confusion, I was grateful to have even had a chance to make the quick copy I did.

Dave Bourke wrote: If you used a Firewire drive or Firewire Target mode to do it, I wouldn't worry about what the new Mac's Finder is showing you on those drives because it's using the faulty database to display the data (good grief, I'm going senile ••“ I can't remember the correct word for this).

You know now what I did, but I wonder if it could be that I technically haven't reformatted the drive?
I was thinking about this last night. Using DU, I had copied its contents and repartitioned (and erased) it before copying the data back to it.
The idea was to ensure maximal compatibility with Leopard as I'd noticed that it employs a new GUID scheme (whatever the heck that is).

This was the first thing I did with the new 'puter.
I can't help but wonder whether the erase and repartition didn't change the format as I'd hoped.
EDIT: I just fired DU up and checked - all Mac OS Extended Journalled.

Dave Bourke wrote:Did you try trashing the Finder .plist and restarting? That can sort out quite a lot of squirrelly stuff. Also, a PRAM reset might be an idea.

I'm using 3 different partitions (OS installs) across 2 drives as I wrestle with this, so much restarting has been done.

Dave Bourke wrote: Failing that, incense, bonfire, bodypaint, chicken, very sharp knife.
Kind regards.

What? How will eating dinner help?

Dave Bourke · Post by **Dave Bourke** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:33 pm

monkey man wrote: You know now what I did, but I wonder if it could be that I technically haven't reformatted the drive?
I was thinking about this last night. Using DU, I had copied its contents and repartitioned (and erased) it before copying the data back to it.
The idea was to ensure maximal compatibility with Leopard as I'd noticed that it employs a new GUID scheme (whatever the heck that is).

This was the first thing I did with the new 'puter.
I can't help but wonder whether the erase and repartition didn't change the format as I'd hoped.
EDIT: I just fired DU up and checked - all Mac OS Extended Journalled.

Let me see if I've got this right? You didn't do anything to the boot drive that came with the new machine, right? You just installed the older drive, copied its contents to the boot drive, then partitioned the older drive, correct?

Just to be clear, you only need to format using the GUID Table if you intend to use the partition to boot the machine. The Apple Partition Map option (which is what OS X used by default until the Intel Macs came out) is perfectly fine if you intend to use the partition for data only. You'll only find these choices in DU's "Partition" tab by pressing the "Options" button. I have a sneaking suspicion that if you don't specifically choose GUID in this way, APM might be the default method, but I can't say for sure. On my machine, choosing "Partition" and hitting the "Options" button tells me that my boot drive is GUID, and the other three are APM.

monkey man wrote:
Dave Bourke wrote:Did you try trashing the Finder .plist and restarting? That can sort out quite a lot of squirrelly stuff. Also, a PRAM reset might be an idea.
I'm using 3 different partitions (OS installs) across 2 drives as I wrestle with this, so much restarting has been done.

It's not so much the restarting per se I was recommending, but the trashing of the Finder prefs first, then the restarting.

monkey man wrote:
Dave Bourke wrote: Failing that, incense, bonfire, bodypaint, chicken, very sharp knife. .
What? How will eating dinner help?

Damn! You made me snort my coffee.

Kind regards.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:43 am

Dave Bourke wrote:Let me see if I've got this right? You didn't do anything to the boot drive that came with the new machine, right? You just installed the older drive, copied its contents to the boot drive, then partitioned the older drive, correct?

Close. I erased the factory drive and installed Leopard from the included discs.
This is something I've done for every new Mac I've ever bought; it's the only way I can be "sure" it's a perfectly clean install, IMHO.

Dave Bourke wrote:Just to be clear, you only need to format using the GUID Table if you intend to use the partition to boot the machine. The Apple Partition Map option (which is what OS X used by default until the Intel Macs came out) is perfectly fine if you intend to use the partition for data only. You'll only find these choices in DU's "Partition" tab by pressing the "Options" button. I have a sneaking suspicion that if you don't specifically choose GUID in this way, APM might be the default method, but I can't say for sure. On my machine, choosing "Partition" and hitting the "Options" button tells me that my boot drive is GUID, and the other three are APM.

Mine are all GUID. I think it's the default too; not 100% sure.
Thank you for that, Dave.

Dave Bourke wrote:It's not so much the restarting per se I was recommending, but the trashing of the Finder prefs first, then the restarting.

Thank you for clarifying that, Dave.

monkey man wrote:
monkey man wrote:
Dave Bourke wrote: Failing that, incense, bonfire, bodypaint, chicken, very sharp knife. .
What? How will eating dinner help?
Damn! You made me snort my coffee.
Kind regards.

Sorry.

Mad confusion around these parts; time limited. Will persist.
Thank you again, Dave.