Path: network.ucsd.edu!equalizer!timbuk.cray.com!uunet!usc!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail From: werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.announce Subject: Mac OS 7.5 and repeated desktop rebuilds Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.system Date: 28 Sep 1994 01:44:39 -0500 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Lines: 60 Sender: nobody@cs.utexas.edu Approved: werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Comp.sys.mac.announce Moderator) Message-ID: Reply-To: werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) NNTP-Posting-Host: news.cs.utexas.edu [ Moderators Note: the information below was made available to me by Apple Customer Support in response to my query. ---Werner] There are a couple of known System 7.5 desktop rebuild issues that we're aware of. Feel free to pass this information on to the rest of the world. file DeskTop at root If a file or folder with the name "desktop" resides at the root level of the boot drive and the modified date is not equal to Jan 1, 1904 the System 7 Finder thinks the drive was last used by System 6 and rebuilds the (invisible) "Desktop DB" and "Desktop DF" files. It also sets the modified date of the "Desktop" file to Jan 1, 1904. InterCon NFS Share 1.3.5 If InterCon NFS Share 1.3.5 is being used and Macintosh Easy Open is installed the desktop files will be rebuilt each time the System is restarted. InterCon is aware of the problem and are working on a fix. Macintosh Easy Open If Macintosh Easy Open is installed the Desktop file will be rebuilt twice after the installation of System 7.5. Why? MEO requires the rebuild so that files from a non-Macintosh file system can be assigned a file type that can be recognized by the Macintosh operating system. This modification of the desktop file provides additional information that MEO uses to locate applications that can open various file types. MEO can cause TWO desktop file rebuilds under the following circumstance: If you have a System 6 desktop file "Desktop" MEO also updates during the first rebuild. The second time you reboot System 7.5 see's that the modify date of the System 6 desktop file is not Jan. 1, 1904, thinks that System 6 was the last OS to run and rebuilds the System 7 "Desktop DB" and "Desktop DF" files. System 7.5 will then set the modify date of the "Desktop" file to Jan. 1, 1904 which then causes the file to be ignored by System 7.5 from that point forward. Other Interesting Problems in Desktop Rebuilding ------------------------------------------------ Two extensions cannot be open while the desktop is rebuilt. If they are, the desktop will rebuild itself incompletely or just stop. The two extensions are: 1) PrinterShare GX - when extension is open, incomplete desktop rebuild results. 2) PowerTalk - when extension is open, desktop stops rebuilding. Workaround in both cases is to use the Extensions Manager to deactivate all control panels and extensions except Macintosh Easy Open, and then to rebuild the desktop. .