Print Page - MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...

Archives => 2003 => Topic started by: Gary S on September 25, 2003, 11:24:10 AM

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: Gary S on September 25, 2003, 11:24:10 AM

When ever I run my monthly schedule with MacJanitor I repair Permissions afterwards. I always get this when i repair permissions. Does anyone know what it means?

User differs on ./private/var/db/locate.database, should be 0, owner is -2
Permissions differ on ./private/var/db/locate.database, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -r--r--r--

I never get it if I repair permissions when I don't run MacJanitor.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kelly on September 25, 2003, 12:04:11 PM

So. Don't worry about it Gary.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kps on September 25, 2003, 01:54:48 PM

Nothing to worry about Gary...

locate is a command used in the terminal to...well locate things, it's like a find command.

My guess:
The database (.db) is where the information is stored. So when you add things and the database is updated it possibly changes to your permissions, the repair utility just puts it right.

FWIW, I get the same thing.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: June Drabek on September 25, 2003, 02:20:55 PM

If I have disk warrior, why would I need MacJanitor ?

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: gmann on September 25, 2003, 02:56:14 PM

I use Janitor for my nitely tune ups, but anything else including permissions I use Cocktail, which has a lot more abilities.
I also use Disk Warrior when needed.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kps on September 25, 2003, 03:10:15 PM

June,

DiskWarrior is a hard disk utility, MacJaninor runs unix maintenance scripts through a GUI. These scripts have nothing to do with the disk.

gmann,

MacJanitor and Cocktail run the identical maintenance scripts. No need to run all three daily. That's why they are called "daily", "weekly", and "monthly".

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: Bill on September 25, 2003, 03:22:46 PM

"daily" kps. Whoops .... thought it said hourly.
Guess I'd better back off using MacJanitor some.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: Gary S on September 25, 2003, 05:14:01 PM

Go Cubs!

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: gmann on September 25, 2003, 05:21:29 PM

QUOTE(kps @ Sep 25 2003, 1:10 PM)

I only use daily on a daily basis with Janitor because it is fast and less messing around. I use Cocktail for every thing else, until it is time to use DW.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kps on September 25, 2003, 06:23:19 PM

gmann, you may be interested in this THREAD, which deals with eliminating the need for MacJanitor, Cocktail, etc. by changing the script run times in crontab.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kps on September 25, 2003, 06:39:47 PM

Check this out...

Installed the 10.2.8 update and ran permissions repair. Here's the ownership and permissions for the locate.database file:

CODE

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1900206 Sep 20 10:31 locate.database

Just now I ran the weekly script manually:

sudo periodic weekly

Here are the new ownership and permissions:

CODE

-r--r--r-- 1 nobody wheel 1904731 Sep 25 19:31 locate.database

Just for reference: root is uid 0 and nobody is uid -2 as per NetInfo Manager. So next time I run 'repair permissions', I'll get the same message on the report.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: June Drabek on September 25, 2003, 08:40:13 PM

I get more confused by the minute. As I understand it...Disk Warrior is strictly for repairing my hard disk. Mac Janitor cleans up unix files..but I don't know what unix files are...is that like my trash files ?? I have been told that if you leave the eMac on all night it cleans itself up with something or other, and on the contrary, I have been told the eMac corrects things each time you shut down or start up. My mind is in a whirl. I still have not opened the box that Disk Warrior came it, and should I try once again to download Macjanitor ?? Please spell it out for this pesky old lady.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kelly on September 25, 2003, 09:27:03 PM

Hi June.

Unix is an Operating System. Like OS 9 for macs or Windows 98.

mac OS X is a First Cousin of Unix. It has things in common.

MacJanitor does a few things to clear out some stuff.

You would be ok if you didn't bother with it.

It's a little thing. Like sweeping off the back stoop.

Really not worth worrying about it. Do it, don't do it. It's all ok.

Disk Warrior is totally different.

It's a Heavy Duty Tool for repairing Hard Drive problems.

Any clearer?

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: June Drabek on September 25, 2003, 09:46:11 PM

Kelly...thank you. Very clear and I have copied it down to remind my self in case I worry about it again. Now what say you about this leaving the computer on all night to have something happen in the wee hours..like..does a maid come it,and if so, what is it she does. And if I should leave the eMac on all night, can I put it on sleep, or just let the screen saver do its job ? Also, what say you about what I was told that each time the eMac is closed down and opened up the following day, something is in there working at these times to straighten things out ?? I am closing down now...my eyes are burning...but I will check for your reply on the morrow. Thank you for your patience, it truly is appreciated. June

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kelly on September 25, 2003, 09:51:19 PM

June. Yes. The mac does check things out every time it starts up.

I would not leave the computer on all night for this.

Waste of electricity in my opinion.

Don't know why you're having trouble Downloading/Using MacJanitor.

We'll get back to having you fix that maybe.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: kps on September 25, 2003, 10:34:58 PM

June, like kelly said, do not worry too much about MacJanitor...all it does is run three unix shell scripts. They are called "daily", "weekly" and "monthly".

The "daily" script is set to run on your machine at 3:15 AM each day. It cleans up scratch and junk files, backs-up netinfo data, rotates log files and checks your subsystem status. It is not crucial to run this each day, you could go for weeks even months and nothing bad would happen. It doesn't repair or fix anything. Just "cleans" up. The NetInfo backup is somewhat important, but not crucial.

The "weekly" script is set to run at 4:30AM each Saturday. This script does similar maintenance as the "daily" script. More log rotation and it updates "whatis" and "locate" databases (this is used when in the terminal, it does not affect the usefulness of your Mac when in the GUI). You'll never need it, it's for those who use the unix part of the Mac OS.

The "monthly" script runs at 5:30 AM on the 1st of each month and just does some "login" accounting and rotates more log files. Again, nothing that would cause harm to your system if it weren't run. It's just that these log files might get a bit large over time and take up a small chunk of your disk space. Log rotation just trashes the oldest logs. These logs contain system messages, error messages and such. There are system logs, mail logs (they do not contain your email), ftp logs (not applicable unless you'rte running a ftp server) same for web logs, unless you turned on personal web sharing these logs are irrelevant.

So, if you look at the times these scripts run, you know why people say to leave the Mac on overnight. Just understand that the Mac has to be "fully" on and not sleeping. Otherwise the scripts wont run.

If you want these scripts to run, leave your Mac on overnight, let's say, each Friday/ Saturday, or if you prefer, try downloading MacJanitor again and run these scripts at your convenience manually.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: June Drabek on September 26, 2003, 03:50:26 PM

Kelly and KPS...thank you both so very much for your great help and good information. I feel now that I will just leave well enought alone..I lived with the 11si and iMac for years without the extras, and as long as i have the Disk Warrior available for serious stuff I think I will let the eMac do it's own dirty work.

I can always go back and download MacJanitor if I change my mind, right ? I am not very wise in downloading and I think that was my problem before..I trashed the wrong thing. For the little I do with my eMac, I shouldn't have too many unsolvable problems. Is it still alright to "restart" as I did with the other Macs ? When things got a little persnickety, I would restart and that seemed to solve the small problems, but if it is forbidden on the eMac I would like to know. Thanks again, and I am sorry I am such a slow learner. Hugs to you all. June

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: Gary S on September 26, 2003, 03:55:49 PM

June,

Sometimes a restart can clear up some problems. You can restart anytime you want too without harming anything.

Title: MacJanitor and Disk Utility Question-KPS or...
Post by: June Drabek on September 26, 2003, 08:49:25 PM

Thank you Gary...that is one more hurdle crossed for me now. Little by little I am gaining more confidence thanks to you good people at Techsurvivors.