Re-reinstalling Panther

[pendragon]

It is my “understanding” (not sure where exactly I picked up this wisdom) that before one is “allowed” to re-reinstall Panther via the Archive & Install method, he must first trash Computer/Library/Receipts/BaseSystem.pkg.

At present, I have no need to do this, but when and if the time comes, it is probably best to know what to do (not that the absence of knowledge is known to impede my deeds.)

Any truth in that Understanding? And if that is wrong, what is right?

TIA

[giantmike]

Never ever touch anything in the receipts folder, it will only get you into big big trouble.

All you have to do fo an archive and install is select that option in the installer, it will do everything for you.

[pendragon]

Every once in a great while, I make the right call and "ask" first. Sounds like this is one of those times. Many thanks Mike!

Harv

[bobw]

The Receipts folder is only there to hold the Receipts for anything that was installed, including updates. Software Update uses these receipts to determine if you're up to date with everything that Apple supplies. Also, other third party programs use receipts to keep you up to date on their programs.

Say you were having a problem with a program that you had updated and wanted to try using the update again, you would go to the Receipts folder and trash the Receipt for thatprogram and use Software update again.

Of course, besides just letting Software Update do the updating, you can also save any updates to your drive for future use.

In any case, removing recepits won't do any harm other than screwing up Software Update.

And No, it is not necessary to remove BaseSystem.pkg. before reinstalling Panther.

On that note, if you should have a reason to reinstall Panther, too many problems that you can't correct, etc, you would be much better off backing up anything you can't replace, then wipe the drive and install from scratch.

[giantmike]

Actually, other things other than Software Update use the receipts. For instance, if you remove some of your receipts and try to run Repair Permissions from the Disk Utility, it will give you many errors, possibly even changing the permissions of some files to a unusable state. The receipts hold the information needed for this program to actually fix the permissions.