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peeb · Mar 28, 2008, 02:52 AM

I'm so fed up with having to babysit OSX shutting down. I've saved all my documents, but each app wants to have an in-depth discussion about whether I really want to shut down. By the time it has, the shut down has timed out. Sometimes this happens TWICE!
I want the equivalent of Option Empty trash for when I REALLY KNOW that I want to shut down and force quit any open apps. Anything?
Thanks!

red rocket · Mar 28, 2008, 06:56 AM

Type this into a Terminal window:

[codex]
sudo shutdown - h now
[/codex]

After entering your admin password, the system will shut down within a few seconds, killing any open apps in the process.

MacosNerd · Mar 28, 2008, 08:06 AM

I generally close all my apps and save my files before I shut the machine down. I think that's probably the safest approach.

If you want to bring it down fast, you can always hold the power button down for a few seconds and that will shut the computer off.

ibook_steve · Mar 28, 2008, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

If you want to bring it down fast, you can always hold the power button down for a few seconds and that will shut the computer off.

That's equivalent to pulling the plug. You do NOT want to do this unless the machine is frozen. This could cause file or OS damage that needs to be repaired on the next boot. In other words, don't do it!

Steve

turtle777 · Mar 28, 2008, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by red rocket

Type this into a Terminal window:

[codex]
sudo shutdown - h now
[/codex]

After entering your admin password, the system will shut down within a few seconds, killing any open apps in the process.

1) NO space between - and h. It's gotta be "-h"

2) I really don't now what the -h flag does.
According to the man page, "The system is halted at the specified time." The specified time is now, but I don't know what "halted" means and does. Is that the equivalent of shutting down w/o reboot ?

-t

Big Mac · Mar 28, 2008, 01:41 PM

-h species the time and now specifies now.

You could kill your login window, peeb, and that would cause your user to exit to the Login pane immediately. But it's really not a very nice thing to do to your system.

turtle777 · Mar 28, 2008, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

-h species the time and now specifies now.

This is not true. Read the MAN page.
"NOW" specifies the time, "-h" specifies the MODE of shutdown.

I'm not familiar with the mode "-h" = HALT. I only used ="-r" = REBOOT in the past.

-t

Big Mac · Mar 28, 2008, 02:39 PM

Oh I thought h was for hour. I'll have to reread my main page when I get out of the office and back on a Mac.

Chuckit · Mar 28, 2008, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

1) NO space between - and h. It's gotta be "-h"

2) I really don't now what the -h flag does.
According to the man page, "The system is halted at the specified time." The specified time is now, but I don't know what "halted" means and does. Is that the equivalent of shutting down w/o reboot ?

According to the manpage, halt flushes the file system cache to disk, sends SIGTERM followed by SIGKILL to all processes and powers down the system.

MacosNerd · Mar 28, 2008, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

That's equivalent to pulling the plug.

Oh I know. My point is if the OP was looking to bring down the system quick, that is the quickest method.

As I said, I close all apps, save my files and then shut down - that's the safest, anything else could cause loss of data or corruption.

turtle777 · Mar 28, 2008, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckit

According to the manpage, halt flushes the file system cache to disk, sends SIGTERM followed by SIGKILL to all processes and powers down the system.

Hm, what man pages are you looking at ? The one I linked above didn't have those details listed.

So, summarizing, -h that would be equivalent of "turning off".

-t

Tomchu · Mar 28, 2008, 03:05 PM

The "-h" option sends a power-down command to the system's power management hardware so that power is cut off -- after all of the shut down procedures and disk flushing have finished.

The "-r" simply sends a restart command.

The "-h" option is the equivalent of "-p" on FreeBSD (for "power off"). The "-h" option in FreeBSD simply halts the OS after the shutdown procedures, but doesn't power off the system.

peeb · Mar 28, 2008, 03:33 PM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

Oh I know. My point is if the OP was looking to bring down the system quick, that is the quickest method.

As I said, I close all apps, save my files and then shut down - that's the safest, anything else could cause loss of data or corruption.

I want to shut it down properly, not just speedily, but I've saved all my docs - I just want to avoid a long discussion with each app about whether I really want to quit.

Big Mac · Mar 28, 2008, 03:50 PM

If you've saved everything they shouldn't be prompting you, right? Other than Safari's tab warnings (which are usually important), I don't have a problem with this issue.

peeb · Mar 28, 2008, 04:23 PM

A lot of programs do ask you. Pages and Word, for example. Mail very rarely shuts down gracefully, instead it hangs more often than not. Safari's tab warnings are important if you don't know whether you want to close them all, but since I have forget me not installed (previously open tabs re-open) I don't care. I just want an option not to engage in prolonged debate with all the apps if I am already sure I just want to close everything without saving.

EndlessMac · Mar 28, 2008, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

A lot of programs do ask you.

My programs are pretty much the opposite of yours because they don't ask. If I have already saved my files then I can just quickly press command Q and quit the program without it asking me to do anything. Just about all my programs are like that so I was surprised to hear about your problem. Some programs you have to turn off the exit messages in the preference menus so try that if you haven't already.

Basically if I have to shut down quickly I just command Q everything and then use the short cut for shutting down and I'm done. It usually only takes me about a minute to do so.

peeb · Mar 28, 2008, 05:46 PM

Hmmm.. I'll have to check the prefs. Thanks.

Chuckit · Mar 29, 2008, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Hm, what man pages are you looking at ? The one I linked above didn't have those details listed.

That was from the manpage for halt.

msuper69 · Mar 29, 2008, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

... Safari's tab warnings are important if you don't know whether you want to close them all, but since I have forget me not installed (previously open tabs re-open) I don't care....

The current version of Safari already has that in the History menu selection: Reopen All Windows From Last Session.

TETENAL · Mar 29, 2008, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

A lot of programs do ask you. Pages and Word, for example. Mail very rarely shuts down gracefully, instead it hangs more often than not.

In Pages change the "General" preferences for "New document" from "Template Chooser" to "Use Template: Empty" (or whatever template you use the most). If the template chooser is not open, Pages quits normally. You can still open the template chooser from the File menu in the rare case you do need to create a document from another template.
Mail always closed gracefully for me.

With regard to quickly shutting down: don't. Just use sleep. That's instant.

DCJ001 · 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by EndlessMac

My programs are pretty much the opposite of yours because they don't ask. If I have already saved my files then I can just quickly press command Q and quit the program without it asking me to do anything. Just about all my programs are like that so I was surprised to hear about your problem. Some programs you have to turn off the exit messages in the preference menus so try that if you haven't already.

Basically if I have to shut down quickly I just command Q everything and then use the short cut for shutting down and I'm done. It usually only takes me about a minute to do so.

"Command Q'ing everything" is unnecessary. When I want to shut down or restart or put my Mac to sleep, and I have no files to save, I press "Control-Eject" on my keyboard and I then press "Enter" to shut down, or I select "Restart" or "Sleep" when I see the prompts shown below:

When applications are open when I shut down or restart, they automatically quit in an efficient manner.

ibook_steve · Mar 31, 2008, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by DCJ001

When applications are open when I shut down or restart, they automatically quit in an efficient manner.

If all files are saved, if there's only one browser tab, if Mail or Entourage is not currently checking mail, etc....

Steve

DCJ001 · 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

If all files are saved, if there's only one browser tab, if Mail or Entourage is not currently checking mail, etc....

Steve

If there are 15 Safari browser tabs (I've turned off the "closing multiple tabs" warning), along with a dozen other applications including, but not limited to, Mail, Photoshop, Office, iWork, etc., pressing "Control-Eject" on my keyboard and choosing the appropriate selection seems to be the most efficient and effective way to get the job done.

I see no need for me to use the "closing multiple tabs" warning. If I quit Safari, and I realize that I need to revisit those tabbed pages, I can use the "Reopen All Windows From Last Session" option under "History."