Techsurvivors

Archives => 2006 => Topic started by: sokukodo on December 17, 2006, 08:34:00 PM

Title: A question
Post by: sokukodo on December 17, 2006, 08:34:00 PM

Please permit (me) a really dumb question: why are there TWO Application folders, the "regular" application folder, and the one in "Home"? Does it really matter which folder is used? Is this a redundancy, or am I missing something?  

Title: A question
Post by: kbeartx on December 17, 2006, 09:54:54 PM

I don't see a folder called Home on my Mac...

Where is yours?

Are you sure one is not an alias of the other?

Title: A question
Post by: sokukodo on December 17, 2006, 10:03:55 PM

Sure, it looks like a little house. In fact, the application folder in "home" is empty, whereas the apllication folder has all my apps.

Title: A question
Post by: kbeartx on December 17, 2006, 10:07:11 PM

On my Mac, the little house folder has the name of my login account on it, and there is no Applications folder inside it...?

What OS?  I'm still on Panther [10.3.9].  Are you on Tiger [10.4.x]?

Title: A question
Post by: sokukodo on December 17, 2006, 10:22:02 PM

I'm on 10.4.8 ... wonder why I've got an empty apllication folder (in "home") ... the home folder is in the "users" folder. I just figured it's supposed to be there (the application folder), but I've never put anything in it. All my applications are in the "other" application folder.

Title: A question
Post by: Xairbusdriver on December 17, 2006, 11:57:34 PM

Even if you are the only person using your Mac, there are still two 'sections of the hard drive/computer: Yours and the OSs. You can put anything you want in your own section but the OS is allowed to put anything it wants in its. Now, should you ever want to create another 'identity' on your machine, you might not want them to have use of everything in your folders ( and vice versa ). That's where the "Home" thing comes in, it's actually your "Users" area, every 'identity' created on your computer will have their own 'user area'.

However, if you have a few applications that everyone might need to use, you can allow that easily by placing that application in the OSs section. Now, everyone can use that application but they can save the files/documents in their own, private 'user area'.

You will often see an application installer ask if you want the app to be usable by everyone using your Mac or just you. That's its way of deciding where to install the actual app, in the OSs area, or in your 'user area'.

So, you can generally, put every app in the 'main' Applications folder and never be bothered by the one in your 'user area'/home folder. But if you ever need to create a space for a limited purpose user ( a children's identity for playing games, for example ) you might want to have a more secure set up; that's the real intent of these 'identities' and double Applications ( and many other directories ), anyway.

It's a feature, not a bug!

Title: A question
Post by: sokukodo on December 18, 2006, 04:01:16 AM

Thanks, xairbusdriver! That clears everything up ... I am the only user of this machine.
Richard

Title: A question
Post by: tacit on December 19, 2006, 03:57:52 PM

What you are seeing is a simple consequence of the fact that Unix, which is what OS X is, was made for computers that have more than one user.

If you put an application into the Applications folder on the top level of your hard drive, then everyone who uses your computer can use that application.

If you put an application into the Applications folder in your home folder, you are the only one allowed to use it. No other person who uses your computer is allowed to run it.

If you are the only user on the computer, then it makes no difference what you do. But OS X, like all Unix systems, was designed for multiple users. In that case, it does matter which Application folder you use.