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ervier · Apr 17, 2003, 08:25 AM

I would like to move the applications folder, but I don't know how. Of course I can copy (almost) all apps in there to another partition (which I did), but I would like to know whether it is possible to do this, and how.

The problem is that my osx-partition is too small, and everytime when I update, I get into trouble. At the time I thought 3GB would do, but now it seems too small. Maya 4.5PLE is one of the main problems. I tried to move it, but then it won't start anymore. Even a dynamic link doesn't do it.

So I thought if I could move the complete applications folder to another partition and use a dynamic link, that would solve the problem. I've done this with my home-folder and all user-accounts, and with the developer-folder (even though it refuses to install on another partition), so I've saved a lot of space there, but this one is a problem.

Any suggestions?

suthercd · Apr 17, 2003, 05:29 PM

Do not move either the Applications folder or the apps installed by the OS X CD. In the future when you Update Software if there are improved versions of the basic set of apps which were initially installed, then the update will try to place the new version in the Application folder and you will end up two of some apps.

Apple designed and implemented the OS like this and we have to adapt.

HTH

Craig

ambush · Apr 17, 2003, 06:01 PM

Do *not* do this

Many apps/classes/frameworks depend on that folder...

some even have that path hardcoded...

and I'm not even mentioning permissions issues it'd create..

don't do that, trust me.

bradoesch · Apr 17, 2003, 06:44 PM

Originally posted by ervier:

Maya 4.5PLE is one of the main problems. I tried to move it, but then it won't start anymore. Even a dynamic link doesn't do it.

I haven't installed the PLE in a while, but does the installer give you the option of where to install? Perhaps you could uninstall, and reinstall on a partition where you've got more room.

Sven G · Apr 18, 2003, 12:14 PM

Personally, I have the Apple-installed and "shared" (among all accounts) apps in the standard /Applications folder, while the third party (no Software Update, thus) apps I only use in my own account are in the ~/Applications folder (in the home directory, that is, and also on another partition): that's a quite common power user arrangement, AFAIK...

bmedina · Apr 18, 2003, 12:57 PM

Why couldn't he just make a hardlink (using ln) to it?

Sven G · Apr 20, 2003, 02:04 AM

Originally posted by bmedina:
Why couldn't he just make a hardlink (using ln) to it?

One big problem seems to be (AFAIK) that Apple's Installer and Software Update apps don't like links of any kind: they want the "real" /Applications folder in its original place (someone more expert on this could give a better explanation, maybe). This could change in future OS X releases, of course - in the meantime, creating a new ~/Applications folder for personal, additional third-party apps could be a good solution for power users, as it also enables Services for the apps inside it (contrarily to putting your apps anywhere you like, possibly meaning having to sacrifice Services)...

CharlesS · Apr 20, 2003, 02:26 AM

Originally posted by bmedina:
Why couldn't he just make a hardlink (using ln) to it?

Well, it's a folder. You can't make a hard link to a folder...

wataru · Apr 20, 2003, 02:31 AM

And, as I understand it, hardlinking something basically makes it exist in two places at once, so it'll take up twice as much disk space.

Just leave the Apple apps where they are.

CharlesS · Apr 20, 2003, 03:33 AM

Originally posted by wataru:
And, as I understand it, hardlinking something basically makes it exist in two places at once, so it'll take up twice as much disk space.

Just leave the Apple apps where they are.

No, it would take up the same amount of space as a single file.

But, you can't hard link a folder.

barney ntd · Apr 20, 2003, 06:29 AM

I have my /Applications (and a few other bits such as /usr/local) on a separate partition, with a symbolic link. Everything works, including services, except for software update. After every software update, I check to see whether it has overwritten the link, and if so I type the following commands into a terminal:

cd /
sudo cp -R /Applications/* /Volumes/Apps/Applications
sudo rm -R /Applications
sudo ln -s /Volumes/Apps/Applications

where "Apps" is the name of my applications partition. So far, this hasn't given me any trouble, except that sometimes the finder reports the old version number for an updated application. It's not guaranteed, as it could leave junk around which should be removed by software update. Probably other things could go wrong too, but they haven't yet!

Barney.