[Ernie]

Question:

Why are there so many different "Library" directories in OS X? There is one at the root of the HD, one within the "system" folder, one within the users folder, one within the Network directory. What are all these for?


Thanks!

[tie]

I don't really know what each Library folder is for but basically they are to make it easier to have multiple users. So for instance there is a ~/Library/Screen\ Savers and there is a /Library/Screen\ Savers and there is a /System/Library/Screen\ Savers. Here's my hypothesis for what these all mean:

The /System/Library/Screen\ Savers folder is for screen savers which came with the system -- made by Apple, shipped with OS X.

The /Library/Screen\ Savers folder is for screen savers that are system-wide but installed by a system administrator -- not by Apple. Every user on the machine can use these screen-savers. They are not in System because then you might confuse third-party screen-savers with those which came with the system.

The ~/Library/Screen\ Savers folder is for an individual's personal screen savers. These screen-savers only apply to a single individual, not every user. It is easiest to install screen-savers here because it requires the least permissions.

Is there a global Desktop folder? I think it would be useful to have a personal Desktop and a global Desktop, which would be displayed together in the desktop.

[rgoer]

Is there a global Desktop folder? I think it would be useful to have a personal Desktop and a global Desktop, which would be displayed together in the desktop.

Yup... but only root can see it in the gui; everybody else can see it by typing open '/Desktop Folder' in the terminal. if you aren't root, you can only put items into this global desktop folder by typing sudo mv path/to/item '/Desktop Folder/item'. (by the way, in case you didn't know, the ' single quotes are necessary when typing path names that contain spaces -- i.e. "Desktop Folder" -- at the command line).



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[Oneota]

Originally posted by rgoer:
(by the way, in case you didn't know, the ' single quotes are necessary when typing path names that contain spaces -- i.e. "Desktop Folder" -- at the command line).

Actually, they're not necessary. You can use a backslash-space combination (/Desktop\ Folder is just as valid as '/Desktop Folder') if you want to.

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"Give me ambiguity or give me something else!"

[AirSluf]

[Audjust soapbox here]

Not to belittle your question, but In a very typical Mac fashion, "Who Cares?" We really don't need to know, that's the beauty of X's version of Unix. Everyday users never really needed to know everything about the old System folder either.

For the rest of us who aren't Joe or Jane everyday the story is a little different. I am making this point because there are a growing number of posters that seem to be developing X-fears of having to become Unix gurus and starting to bash X because of this fear. It's there if we wnat to learn, great but learning it's not required.

[Put Soapbox away]

Other than that it looks like the folks above are doing a pretty good job.

[Ernie]

Originally posted by tie:


The /System/Library/Screen\ Savers folder is for screen savers which came with the system -- made by Apple, shipped with OS X.

The /Library/Screen\ Savers folder is for screen savers that are system-wide but installed by a system administrator -- not by Apple. Every user on the machine can use these screen-savers. They are not in System because then you might confuse third-party screen-savers with those which came with the system.

Yes I think you are right about this.

So The Library in the Users folder is for items, prefrences, etc specific to that individual user

The Library in the Network folder is for items that apply to users using the machine on a network (for those who would be using the machine remotely, etc.)

Makes sense to me!

Thanks for your help!