[philzilla]

every now and then, i notice i have files with completely wild names, which i know i haven't put there. here's an example of the party happening in /var/log right now:

Code:
-rw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel      512  3 Jun 03:26 .????? MWWz85IATjOYBee60-111Ef55 ????
-rw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel      512  3 Jun 03:26 .dxCLABnGSYSFEUfas2DD43647g5Nw2k7OS53

and in /private/etc...

Code:
-rw-rw-rw-    1 root  wheel     512  3 Jun 03:26 .5vlceXtUh2B3AwzlLqOnWEAHoE4yRjq3wZAt
-rw-rw-rw-    1 root  wheel     512  3 Jun 03:26 .????? Z5h5oiFm5ABXGPv9-lf8UaKZN ????

all i was doing at 03:26 this morning was some coding in BBEdit, which i was testing locally.

i know these files aren't doing any damage, but i just like to know why these things happen. any ideas?

[absmiths]

Are those files temporary, or do they remain permanently? Do you have any cron jobs or services added to your system?

I have a bunch of this kind of stuff in /var/log:

.SecurityUpd2003-06-09.pkg.425.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iCal.pkg.440.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iCal.pkg.732.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iDisk_Utility.pkg.471.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iPhoto.pkg.429.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iPod.pkg.560.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iPod130.pkg.478.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iSync.pkg.1067.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iSync.pkg.1659.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iSync.pkg.436.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iSync.pkg.478.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iSync_Palm.pkg.1659.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iSync_Palm.pkg.436.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iSync_Palm.pkg.487.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iTunes3.pkg.860.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iTunes4.pkg.1659.upgrade.InstallationPlan
.iTunes4.pkg.424.upgrade.InstallationPlan


But that is clearly Apple stuff. I don't have any '.' files in /etc.

[philzilla]

Originally posted by absmiths:
Are those files temporary, or do they remain permanently? Do you have any cron jobs or services added to your system?

i've noticed files like this in several places, which seem to remain across reboots. this mac runs 24/7 and cron does its business at the usual times. i'd reboot and double check now, but i'm busy working on something. i'll make a note to check for sure after the next reboot.

[Arkham_c]

I have three machines on OS X and none of them exhibit these files in /var/log.

I suspect that they are being created by some user space application you're using. I doubt it's BBEdit because I use that all day every day on my laptop.

[philzilla]

Originally posted by Arkham_c:
I suspect that they are being created by some user space application you're using.

such as?