The unfeigned theme of Mac OS X 10.4.2 — released by Apple in mid - July — is simple : it fixes hemipterous insect . customer set up bugs that tester and developers did not , and this update fixes a bunch of them . Mac OS X 10.4.2 was not exhaust just to support new ironware , or to add challenging new capability to the operating system , or to pave the way for mutant iPods that work with iTunes to control your service department threshold while purify the gentle wind . It desex bugs , with some of the jam more clearly document than others .
The liberation of Mac OS X 10.4.2 marks the beginning , in sincere , of the Tiger update Hz . Because the development cycle for Mac OS X 10.4.1 started before 10.4 DVD ever reached retail customers , 10.4.2 is the first Tiger update to address serviceability egress reported by non - simulated customers . The prominent themes seem to be networking and minor annoying , with a subaltern focal point on iChat and Mail , which always seem to have problems in the first release of a major Mac OS X version .
It ’s those changes — along with improvement to Tiger ’s disc mend tools — that we ’ll pore on during this privileged look at Mac OS X 10.4.2 . The update also includes fixes and changes to the Library , System Library , Core Services , and Unix folders , which are examined in greater depth in the July 31 issue of MWJ ( as is the Mac OS X Server 10.4.2 update ) . Here are just a few of the highlights :
Applications
iChat AVThe 10.4.2 update revises iChat AV , an program that seems to attract problems that live both examination and seeding . Our testing of iChat in pre - release versions of both Panther and Tiger prove it as one of the last components to feel really solid during extensive daily manipulation , and the videoconferencing support is still flimsy for us . It is hard to verify if the problems are in iChat , the connection connection , the AIM package on the other end , the cameras , in one party ’s configuration , or perhaps in the relative humidity inside a router somewhere .
According to Apple , Mac OS X 10.4.2 ’s update iChat AV 3.0.1 ( v392 ) and the associated public Instant Message framework ( v356 ) set an “ issue ” in the old version that couldincorrectly endaudio or video chat due to “ insufficient bandwidth . ” Although Apple has not confirmed such item , the third - company communitybelievesthe problem relates to Quality of Service ( or QoS ) assure that iChat AV tries to utilize .
The abbreviation QoS technically refer to the intact concept of guaranteeing throughput over a connection ; iChat AV appear to useDSCP(Differentiated Services Code Point ) in TCP and UDP packet to implement QoS guarantees . The idea is that urgent packets — such as those for real - clip individual - to - person video recording and audio — should be pit as such so that routers on the Internet can give them the priority they need .
The trouble , apparently , is that some routers are so confused by the DSCP information engraft in packet cope that they route these package dim than other packet . When packets do n’t show up as fast as they should , iChat AV think it ’s because you do n’t have enough bandwidth . It state you so and cease the conference .
Since Apple has not confirmed the job , there ’s very little entropy available to suggest how Mac OS X 10.4.2 fixes it . We ’d guess it has something to do not only with the iChat practical program , but also with a revised private Video Conference model . The childlike solution we could muster is trying again : if a conference with QoS information come out to have insufficient bandwidth , iChat AV could drop the QoS data and try again , to see if that fuddle a router a routine less . It ’s just a possibility .
SafariMac OS tenner 10.4.2 includes a new variation of Safari , but the two documented changes in Apple ’s web browser app are almost sure follow out in the public Web Kit fabric : better scrolling with coil - wheel - capable mice , and the ability to lumber into Cingular ’s Web - based account system . According to other documentation , Mac OS X 10.4.2 also sterilise trouble that could preclude Safari from download “ certain ” gismo , and that might have auto - set up some widgets when you did not wish it .
Mac OS X 10.4.2 also include Modern reading of the private Syndication and SyndicationUI model that handle Tiger ’s RSS download and display potentiality . It might be related to a bug developer love only as “ issue with JavaScriptCore and RSS Visualizer . ” Although these frameworks are private , Apple seems to understand that syndication grows more important each Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . The troupe hascreateda new syndication developers’mailing listso developer can talk about Safari RSS ( and how these framework handle RSS feeds ) , iTunes podcast feeds , the Apple Chapter Tool for ca-ca “ raise ” podcasts , and more — just not user - level business .
ring mail and OthersApple document several changes to Mail in Mac OS X 10.4.2 that issue forth not only in the revise Mail program program in the /Applications folder , but also in the public content framework ( in /System / Library / Frameworks ) that implements much of Mail ’s back closing .
The release notes also mention bugs fixed in Stickies and iCal , as well as a hemipteran in Preview that ’s fix in some theoretical account because 10.4.2 does not contain a new adaptation of Preview . The update also provides undocumented changes to Address Book , Automator ( not just to some of Apple ’s clump Automator action ) , the Installer ( perhaps related to the document bug installing to write - protected drives ) , and Printer Setup Utility .
Disk Repairs
Mac OS X 10.4.2 update Disk Utility ( in the /Applications / Utilities/ folder ) , as well as the /usr / sbin / diskutil program line line utility . Both are front - ends to the individual Disk Management framework that contain the codification for verifying and recompense HFS Plus volume structures and privileges . The theoretical account — and therefore both Disk Utility and command - line utilities like the fsck phonograph recording - mend tool — see a major climb in Mac OS X 10.4.2 in how they handle files with overlapping extent .
Anextentis merely a chronological sequence of consecutive block on an HFS or HFS Plus disk . The Mac OS always try out to apportion single file in sequential chunks , so it cut through file cabinet segments by extents , describe each one by its commence block number and the enumeration of the turn of blocks in the extent . An unfragmented file , no matter how large , has only one extent because it reside on disc in serial blocks . A 12 KB filing cabinet fragmented into three 4 KB allocation block on disk has three extents , each one mental block long . Because both HFS and HFS Plus were design to keep fragmentation , cross files by extents is more effective than tracking each block allocated to a file .
How can extent overlap ? record corruption often start with errors in auction block apportioning . Whether by scheduling mistake or major power outage , corruption begins when the file system utilise some block on the disk but fails to mark those blocks as used in the assignation file ( or , under the quondam HFS format , the volume electronic image ) . Sometime afterwards , when the OS needs place to write something , it finds that these blocks are not differentiate as used in the allocation filing cabinet , so it uses them , incognizant they ’re already part of some other extent . Just like that , two files consider they ’re using the same blocks on disk .
reckon that your Safari bookmark file overlap a picture in your iPhoto subroutine library . If the picture was write last , Safari might dash on launching , unable to parse what it thinks should be an hypertext mark-up language file full of bookmarks that instead has some chunk of binary JPEG data point in it . If the bookmarks were written last , then if you ’re lucky , iPhoto only complains that it ca n’t expose the film . If you ’re unlucky , iPhoto crashes on launching trying to display a JPEG simulacrum with a chunk of hypertext mark-up language where binary data should be , and you get to track down the trouble yourself .
Overlapping extent do n’t actuate File Manager error code that applications can charm and display . A file with an overlapped extent is neither too poor nor too long , and the atomic number 8 does n’t know or care that the binary data inside the file cabinet is incorrect for one of the owners . As long as the HFS Plus code can detect , read , and indite the blocks , it wo n’t rejoin error — it wo n’t even know that multiple extent claim the same stoppage . Fortunately , any decent disk utility program reconstruct the allocation data file from dent as part of examining a volume , take care at every extent and making sure that every city block is used once and only once . That ’s the only way of life you ’ll ever get it on if two or more extents overlap .
Finding the problem is easier than gear up it . In fact , it ca n’t be “ fix , ” because no more than the last file cabinet to use the overlap extent could have right data in it . By definition , if an overlapping extent be , a program write data for a file cabinet into block that were already used by an earlier - created file cabinet . The data from the earlier file in those overlapping blocks is run constantly . utility can recognize the problem and unravel the extents by copying all filing cabinet to Modern parts of the disk , but no more than one of these rescue file contain correct data . If multiple extent overlap in tangled way , it ’s possible thatnoneof the files has all of its own data any longer .
Mac OS X 10.4.2 ’s revised Disk Management framework importantly boosts Tiger ’s ability to repair disks with overlap extent . In 10.4.1 and originally , fsck ( and Disk Utility ’s logarithm ) would merely report that overlap extents be , exhibit the affected filing cabinet ’s ID numbers ( catalogue node ID numbers , technically , or CNIDs ) as part of the error notification . You then had to utilize the find command ’s “ -inum ” parameter to chance the material pathnames for yourself . In 10.4.2 , the system expose the pathname of a damage file as well as its CNID .
That ’s just a start . Mac OS X 10.4.2 ’s HFS Plus repair code attempt to allocate fresh distance for every shared extent . If two filing cabinet share the same three pulley , the codification now allocate two new three - pulley block extents on disk , copy the contents of the shared extent to both of the newfangled extent , and updates the catalog so that the two original files now consult to their young , individual extent or else of to the older , illicitly partake extent . Apple warns that this may fail or follow wordlessly , but unless your disc is either so full or so fragmented that the code ca n’t apportion the novel extents , it should succeed .
Next , the young Disk Management resort code creates a folder name DamagedFiles at the root level of the disk in question , and create a real Unix symbolic link ( not a Mac OS alias of any variety ) for each of the involve file , name with the original CNID and the file name . In our example , if your Safari Bookmarks file had the file ID 45892 and the picture that overlapped an extent with it had file ID 81834 , the DamagedFiles pamphlet would contain two symbolic links , one key “ 45892 Bookmarks.plist ” and one named something like “ 81834 DSCN0001.JPG ” , bet on the image ’s original filename . As mention , only one of these file can even possibly turn back correct information , and they may both be corrupted . Thanks to the symbolic links , you could easy find them , and determine which newly untangled filing cabinet to keep and which to substitute .
Utilities likeDiskWarriorhave long repaired overlap extent with similar procedures , but it ’s great to have this work up into the operating system , if for no other reason than that Mac OS X uses this code to verify and repair your file cabinet organization during inauguration when the computing machine was n’t right shut down . If you see a DamagedFiles directory show up on the root level of your hard drive , stop what you ’re doing and attend at the files within it . See which of the Indian file are damaged , and either replace them from backup or recreate them . Then be given DiskWarrior if you have it , or boot into unmarried - substance abuser mode and run fsck so it can verify there are no more problem with your disk . ( you’re able to reboot from your Tiger facility disk and run Disk Utility , but since it does n’t hold the Mac OS X 10.4.2 version of this codification , it wo n’t do as well with overlapping extent , so we recommend single - drug user mode first . )
The Last Word
Although Mac OS X 10.4.2 takes a big swipe at exploiter - reported problems with the first two Tiger departure , it ’s not perfect . A bug that wipe out URL information in Address Book when using sync and using .Mac datum as the master source isnot fixedin 10.4.2 , for example , nor areseveral other hemipteran .
The update did not turn to an iPhoto 5distractionthat was embedding the wrong coloring material profile in an image every time you edited it under Tiger , but the iPhoto 5.0.3 update released shortly after Mac OS X 10.4.2 fixes that . We ’re not sure why it take Mac OS X 10.4.2 as well , because nothing colligate to ColorSync appears to have vary in the OS update , but there you go . Unfortunately , iPhoto 5.0.3 crashes when rotate some image , prompting the warm release of iPhoto 5.0.4 .
Mac OS X 10.4.2 has been in the natural state for a twain of weeks , and no one has report any massively debilitating bugs for it . There will be more hemipteron fix in Mac OS X 10.4.3 , and 10.4.4 , and 10.4.5 beyond that . Jaguar got eight significant revisions ; Panther get nine ( and that might not have been enough ) . The 10.x.2 update unremarkably arrives about two month after the major release , and 10.4.2 is in line with that docket .
In other words , there ’s nothing really unusual going on here . It ’s a big update , but so is every 10.x.2 update , because that ’s when the customer - cover bugs start up getting fixed .
If you ’re running Tiger , install Mac OS X 10.4.2 if you have n’t already done so . If you ’ve been waiting to install Tiger until they get “ the first bug ” work out , it ’s time to put that reasoning aside and update . It ’s not an earth - shaking update . It ’s just one you want .
Excerpted with permission from the July 31 issuance of MWJ , release by MacJournals.com . right of first publication 2005 , GCSF Incorporated . For a free trial run to MWJ , visitwww.macjournals.com .
