Tiger Server is loaded with technologies that provide great opportunities for developers, including Xgrid, 64-bit support, Access Control Lists, and more.
Exploring Tiger Server
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I dont know about you guys… but Xgrid sounds very sexy.
I know openmosix is slowly working on a 2.6 version, but it would be nice to have it in the main line Kernel.
I have 4 linux boxes in this house, something like Xgrid for linux would really kick ass here for me.
Wow, a weblog server included. Now that’s a good out-of-the-box feature. Sure you could install wordpress or anything, but to have it there and ready shows how “with-it” Apple are most of the time
Looks like Apple’s server is finally catching up with the rest of the competition. I do have a question though: Weblog Server…why integrate that into a server product? Just what we need, every user creating their own weblog on the LAN…sounds like a productivity killer to me. Isn’t that what email is for? Better yet, a proper Project Mgmt software package? Seems kinda worthless to me.
“Cutting Edge” certificate management and ACLS. If you consider 1995 or 2000 cutting edge. Apparently Apple fans do.
Darling, if you don’t want the feature, don’t install it.
Windows 2000 was the same, you had people whine because IIS was installed by default – question, why not deselect it during the install? I ran Windows 2000 Advanced server on my workstation for a while, and it was an easy thing to remove the tick from the box.
As for the features; its a great move forward, hopefully Bascule will be able to update us on whether OpenDirectory has improved and other features when stress tested in the work place.
Apple keeps pushing the question. If Apple can preconfigure open source apps and integrate open source libs sanely to provide a beautiful user experience, why can we do the same on the *BSD/Linux/GNU side of things?
I’ve always wondered why no one has copied Apple’s method of application installation/management yet. It’s so simple to have everything all bound up in one .app file instead of sprayed everywhere on your hard drive (like Windows) or complicated by spaghetti-like dependencies that stretch out to infinity (like Linux). Sure things like Apt/URPMI are great for me and the other people who read and post here, but they are absolutely not useable for my Mother or most average computer users I know. Would it really be that hard to do what Apple has done in this regard? I’ve never even seen anyone attempt to copy the feature.
With regard to Tiger as a file server, one of the most annoying things that I hope they have fixed in the new release is Panter’s tendency to create .DS_Store files all over the place and 0kb versions of files opened starting with a dot. What is the point of all these and why doesn’t the OS remove them on its own? Sure it’s easy to edit the smb.conf file to not show Windows users anything starting with a dot, but there is no GUI option for hiding/unhiding those and they make your shared directories look very messy to Windows users if you don’t hide them. I also maintain a Samba server running Mandrake 10.1 at work and it never creates these files, so they’re not Samba-specific, they’re something that OS X is creating for its own bewildering reasons.
.DS_Store
.DS_Store files are Finder files. They’re written with the dot (‘.’) in the beginning of the name so they won’t intrude and scare. Any file beginning with a dot is invisible in Unix. .DS_Store files are stored for folders and in folders, on a per-folder basis, one file per folder.
.DS_Store files contain information about how a folder is to be represented onscreen. Some people like to have their Polaroid of Diamond Head in the background for their Pictures folder. Software vendors use .DS_Store files to make their disk image files attractive.
The idea is good enough; it’s the implementation that screws up. Fortunately you don’t have to be a computer genius to understand why; you only have to think about it for a moment. Follow along for the ride.
As we all know, the Finder allows one to configure settings for any folder on either an individual or global basis. If you go into the global folder settings, you are changing how all folders (ceteris paribus) will look. If you switch to individual settings, you are working on how only that folder will look.
The system is obvious: Somewhere outside the folders themselves the Finder keeps tabs on the generic global configuration for files: the size of the icons, what background image if any, and so on. This is not stored persistently in any folder; these are global settings, and apply to all folders – unless, that is, the Finder encounters a .DS_Store file locally.
The existence of a local .DS_Store in an individual folder is supposed to tell the Finder ‘here we’re diverting from the norm’. The Finder is supposed to read this file and make adjustments in display accordingly.
And this is how it works, and it does work. The problem is that it’s implemented poorly – very poorly.
Consider: If the system were implemented correctly, and a user made no special settings for any individual folder, then no .DS_Store files would pop up on disk – right?
Wrong – and this is where the implementation rears its ugly head: Instead of just going about things in the logical and conscionable way, this ugly programmer included code to have the Finder ferret out and record all folders traversed throughout a session (up-time between two system startups). Nothing happens with this dirty information until next you boot, but when you do you can hear the evil routine at work as your hard drive starts thrashing. The .DS_Store routine is searching out all the folders it’s become aware of since last and putting .DS_Store files in them – whether they’re needed or not.
If a user has individual settings for a folder, then the Finder has to create a .DS_Store file – that is obvious. Putting this file in the folder itself is also the sanest way to deal with the issue. (Central storage would just be wrong and lead to infinite computational problems.)
But if the user should decide to revert to global settings, the Finder should delete the .DS_Store file. That would be the sensible thing.
Can one sense the HI hens’ influence here?
A .DS_Store file takes a minimum of 6,148 bytes on disk. That’s two disk clusters, or 8,192 bytes (8 KB) including slack. As the Finder finds it a righteous prerogative to place these bastards anywhere it pleases, you can expect a theoretical disk waste of 8 KB multiplied by the total number of folders you have on disk.
Try going with your Finder to ‘Macintosh HD’ and seeing if the program will tell you how many folders you have on disk. It may take a while – the Finder is a bit slow. It has so many other things to do at the same time, like follow after you wherever you go and leave its droppings on your trail.
How do you get rid of .DS_Store files? You use a program like Xscan. Or you write yourself a cute little shell script. But what’s important is that you cold boot repeatedly until they’re basically gone. The Finder doesn’t give up easily.
As the Finder writes these ugly things on startup, it’s the information from the previous session that matters. If you clean them all away and then reboot, you’re likely to see one only on your desktop, unless your global folder settings are identical.
A correlate of the above is of course that you also avoid use of the Finder. For anything the Finder touches – whether it be through an ordinary folder or through something as seemingly innocent as a ‘Save As’ dialog – gets dirtied with another turd of Finder do-do.
Unless you’re a confirmed Unix freak, navigating your system exclusively with your Terminal.app is not going to be that inspiring – you need a new GUI tool which doesn’t get the ‘.DS_Store runs’ all the time. There aren’t many; one is Path Finder, but that costs $35; another is Xfile, available here, and that – together with another 38 utilities and tools – costs only $39.
But of course you can just run a ‘containment script’ from time to time to cut your losses.
Shell scripts that first find and identify .DS_Store files and then remove them may be a bit difficult to write; be sure to ‘sudo’ so you get at everything. Xscan is a lot easier.
Found the above on: http://rixstep.com/1/20030521,00.html
Now to get rid of them in Linux:
Use the following command to recursively remove the .DS_Store files left by Mac OS X:
find /. -iname “.DS_Store” | xargs rm -v
Warning: There is no going back after executing this command. If you just want to list the locations of the .DS_Store files without deleting them, type this:
find /. -iname “.DS_Store”
You could put the remove command in a shell script and run it as a cron job once or more a day to clean them up.
@Tyrone Miles
Well, the most elegant way of removing these files is a little different to what you say, and should rather be done more or less like that:
find / -iname “.DS_Store” -exec rm {} ;
I’t *much* more efficient than the | xargs rm solution.
Apple keeps pushing the question. If Apple can preconfigure open source apps and integrate open source libs sanely to provide a beautiful user experience, why can we do the same on the *BSD/Linux/GNU side of things?
The simple answer is: Apple can’t do it, more than in very limited situations. These limitations is not acceptable to most other *nix admin.
The problem is that you often run into problems if you try to configure something that have no GUI. It could be that the GUI will overwrite your changes, or that the free software below the GUI is not fully functional or crippled.
Example: try to create a shared mailbox in cyrus with cyradm, try setting up and using sieve filters. Why is it that Open Directory stuff isn’t used as ldap servers normally are in postfix configuration files. Why is it that they have to invent a new way to launch services in each new version. In tiger its launchd. It’s a server environment givi it some stability, don’t mess with things that don’t need to be messed with. If you contact Apple support on something that havn’t a GUI they havn’t a clue.
I havn’t yet tested tiger, so my thaughts reflect Panther server, but at least in that version, the Gnome people are doing a much better job of combining a good GUI with a good CLI and scripting environment.
I had no problem with sieve filters on Panther server? Well, they work, but the timed or whatever to remotely edit them doesn’t work. I had to write a PHP interface for my users to edit their sieve files… but it does work.
The two big features in Tiger that make it ‘worth it’ for my environment are centralized patch management and auto-synchronizing home directories for laptops. Finally. These have been sorely needed. I have over 150 Apple laptops running around and no easy way to make sure they’re all patched or that they’re being backed up. The home directory synchronization will also allow laptop users to get to their files from lab workstations. These are huge for me. Weblog server? Chat server? Get real… those are just easy features to explain to the idiot masses.
A tad bit off topic, but…
In his speech, Gates also took the time to poke fun at Apple’s new Mac OS X “Tiger” release, which hit store shelves last week and has been greeted by rave reviews. It’s easy to tell if you’re using a PC or Mac, Gates joked, “Just take your applications and stick them in there and see if they run.”
You’re spreading incorrect information.
in the following,
find /. -iname “.DS_Store” | xargs rm
xargs performs only one ‘rm’ command for N files found by find, where N is the maximum number of filenames that can fit in the ARGV buffer. In other words, if you have 1000 files, xargs might only call ‘rm’ three times (assuming ~334 files can be deleted in one shot).
find / -iname “.DS_Store” -exec rm {};
In this case find will run ‘rm’ 1000 times, each process startup costs time overhead in the kernel.
To perform a fair benchmark, first warm up the cache with your find command, then perform both tests:
#warmup: /usr/bin/time -p find / -name “*.txt”
#xargs: /usr/bin/time -p find / -name “*.txt” | xargs echo
#find: /usr/bin/time -p find / -name “*.txt” -exec echo -n “{} ” ;
The complaint wasn’t about including a web server. There is no reason to complain about that, the complaing was about including a weblog, or BLOG, server. And on that note, I can only agree. Unless, your target audience is the home tinkerer, and not professional usage. In professional usage, you would want to install your own package your own way anyways.
Wow… Gates is even less funny tan you would expect… at lease he does good with his foundation.
Is the “.DS_store” the OS X equivalent of the “thumbs.db” file in Windows or do these perform two different functions? I have to agree that having these things all over the place can be a nuisance. They are usually not a problem for me on the native OS but I notice them when I burn a cd or use my flashdrive to swap files from one system to another. I just did a clean install of Tiger over the weekend but have not checked to see if there are any .DS_store files in any of the folders. I really don’t mind them or the thumbs.db files being on the computers as long as they can stay hidden.
I generally like Unix OSes (esp. Mac OS X). But I’m troubled by the recent onslaught of exploits to Unix based OSes and applications. For example, Apache has, in my opinion, been one of most secure and successful open-source applications around. But this morning I saw this: http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/397348?ref=rss
Now this guy’s machine was fully patched and the attacker still got in.
When is the open-source community going to take responsibility for these security loop-holes?
I dare say Microsoft makes plenty of money on the mac platform. Plus, Apple trailblazes the future and Bill follows as all the MicroBots cry for the same features.
Bill could make even more money, port the .Net framework to Apple. And sell Visual Studio and SqlServer for example.
Microsoft could have a bright future on Os X. No need to be snippy.
To be fair, the issue is with poorly written web applications (PHP-based) and not Apache. Web applications provide numerous opporunities to shoot yourself in the foot. There are all sorts of ways to write PHP script that can receive a file or input from a form and execute the content with the privilege of the HTTP server. Actually, that’s not specific to PHP, but it is simple in PHP. Typically, these things aren’t much different than SQL-injection attacks.
PHP can be tricky to lock down properly, but it’s pretty simple to follow some coding guidelines that prevent exploits (little good that is if a client is putting the scripts on your machine).
It is important to note that in the Tiger release, the support for 64-bit programming does not extend throughout the entire set of APIs available on Mac OS X.
Ok so your stuck with writing 64-bit applications via C or C++. What advantage then is it to run Tiger vs Linux for 64-bit applications development?
Xgrid does look cool but has limited application currently. Great for maybe the scientific community but doesn’t help out with general computing needs i.e. routing mail etc..
I dare say Microsoft makes plenty of money on the mac platform. Plus, Apple trailblazes the future and Bill follows as all the MicroBots cry for the same features.
What are “MicroBots,” characters from Transformers?
perhaps the person should have had a server side check of the info first? and on top of that, limit the size of the info that a text box can take.
umm.. because most uses for 64 bit, other than addressing, are better served by helper apps and not the main application? as for the addressing, that is easy to implement into gui apps on tiger now.
This is not a NeXTSTEP issue but a holdover for the Mac OS of old. When Apple drops support for Classic and perhaps Carbon you won’t have this issue in the future.
Nothing of this sort was ever an issue with Workspace Manager and NeXTSTEP.
Bring back the Shelf and ditch the Finder with a merging of the two and you’d see a lot more happy folks who get tired of these compromises.
The complaint wasn’t about including a web server. There is no reason to complain about that, the complaing was about including a weblog, or BLOG, server. And on that note, I can only agree. Unless, your target audience is the home tinkerer, and not professional usage. In professional usage, you would want to install your own package your own way anyways.
But if you have a reasonably functional, reasonably documented, and reasonably easy to use tool sitting there on your server already, why go out and hunt down your own?
If someone thinks a blogging server would be a nice tool to try in the company, the admin can say “Yea, we already have one, let’s fire it up and try it out”.
They’re already including a database for crying out loud (arugably even more mission critical than a blog server for most organizations).
But, now you have a blogging package and a chat system to facilitate intra company communication, what’s the big deal?
It comes configured, fits into Apples naming and directory conventions, and does Blog Stuff.
I’m surprised they didn’t offer a Wiki as well, that would be really nice for many.
“You can always tell if you’re working on a Mac or a PC. Just take your applications and stick them in there and see if they run,” he said, moments after calling Apple “the super-small market share guy.”
—-
From about 20 years or so ago….
Jobs: We’re better.
Gates: It doesn’t matter, Steve!
“MrEcho – I have 4 linux boxes in this house, something like Xgrid for linux would really kick ass here for me.”
http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/archives/000026.html
hylas
You are absolutely correct that xargs is faster than find -exec, however the example you’ve chosen is broken if any paths with spaces are passed to xargs.
$ find / -name .DS_Store -print0 | xargs -0 rm
Will always work regardless of spaces.
I’m surprised they didn’t offer a Wiki as well, that would be really nice for many.
go to terminal and type
sudo gem install instiki
instant wiki : )