Unable to Compile

[thatch]

Although I am a pretty careful person and since I started learning all this unix stuff with OS X about late August when I got myself a new Quicksilver, I have a problem with simple compiling.

In all that time, I haven't had one kernel panic but when I was testing moving my users folder to a different partition back in late November, I accidentally deleted the stuff inside my Network directory at /Network.

Remembering what was in there now is a bit distant but I think it contained aliases to my partitions and one alias to Servers. If there is supposed to be more to it than that, someone please let me know what I'm missing.

I keep on getting automount, .vol and Servers icons appearing on my desktop after I have browsed through my finder windows some. They go away after a logout and log back in but then reappear after more finder window surfing.

I haven't experienced any other ill effects other than when I recently tried to compile fileutils-4.0 for setting list colors in terminal, at least other than some small oddities which might even be just relatively normal things.

The error that terminal gives me after attempting to compile for 30 seconds or so is:

configure: error: could not determine how to read list of mounted filesystems

Ouch! So, I guess maybe I could go about trying to reinstall my system over the top of my present one, 10.1.2, and see if that would do the trick, if that's even possible. Or perhaps someone can steer me in the right direction to tie up the seemingly loose ends I may have recklessly created.

Here is some other info from terminal on the contents of things:

[localhost:~] thatch% cd /Network
[localhost:/Network] thatch% ls -lias
total 1
4906 0 drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 264 Aug 25 11:23 .
2 0 drwxrwxr-t 41 root admin 1350 Feb 7 19:18 ..
4907 0 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 264 Jun 21 2001 Applications
4908 0 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 264 Jun 21 2001 Library
4 1 dr-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 512 Feb 7 23:22 Servers
4909 0 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 264 Jun 21 2001 Users

# There appears to be nothing inside the Applications, Library and Users directories from a finder window with all invisible files shown except for the Servers' alias which looks like it links to my network and then to my entire root partition:

[localhost:/Network/Servers] thatch% ls -lias
total 2
4 1 dr-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 512 Feb 7 23:27 .
4906 0 drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 160 Aug 25 11:23 ..
5 1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root wheel 512 Feb 7 19:19 localhost -> /

This is no doubt the screwy reason I can not compile. Any suggestions or hints would be appreciated. TIA.

[mervTormel]

i think that [ localhost -> / ] reference is just a hook back to your local root. did i read correctly that you may think this is an issue?

if it's any consolation, my rig:

% ll -R /Network
/Network:
total 512
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 264 Sep 2 13:52 Applications/
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 264 Dec 19 17:33 Library/
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 512 Feb 8 17:14 Servers/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 264 Sep 2 13:52 Users/

/Network/Applications:
total 0

/Network/Library:
total 0

/Network/Servers:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root wheel 512 Feb 8 17:14 gunther -> //

/Network/Users:
total 0


as for the [ configure: error: could not determine how to read list of mounted filesystems ]

is there any context around that error that could prove illuminating?

you haven't reconfigured your mounts with /etc/fstab.* have you?

[thatch]

> i think that [ localhost -> / ] reference is just a hook back to your local root. did i read correctly that you may think this is an issue?

Nah, I was just noting it in case is was strange.

> if it's any consolation, my rig:
...

I'm surprised that it looks about the same as mine. I thought I deleted some aliases there as I had mentioned.

> as for the [ configure: error: could not determine how to read list of mounted filesystems ]

> is there any context around that error that could prove illuminating?

> you haven't reconfigured your mounts with /etc/fstab.* have you?

I am still wondering about this. No, I haven't messed with fstab at all. But I noticed while poking around a bit that the alias called dev doesn't know where the original is located. Can you please tell me where your dev points so I can fix that on my box?

Everything is working so nicely that it seems like I just need to do some clean up or something and then hopefully be able to compile. But if I can't figure this out, I guess a full reinstall may be the only way. I've done my back up and have my sleeves rolled up and ready. Any thoughts would be welcomed.

I have plenty of extra hard drive space on separate partitions. Maybe I should do a clean install onto one of them and just move everything back once I get that set up. Or am I just spinning my wheels for nothing? Sorry, I'm a bit confused right now. :confused:

[mervTormel]

> I'm surprised that it looks about the same as mine. I thought I deleted some
> aliases there as I had mentioned.

I'm pretty sure this would be rebuilt on the fly, perhaps at startup, as it is only a map of pointers that may or may not point anywhere.

> I am still wondering about this. No, I haven't messed with fstab at all. But I
> noticed while poking around a bit that the alias called dev doesn't know where
> the original is located. Can you please tell me where your dev points so I can
> fix that on my box?

If you look at /dev in your shell, you'll see that it's quite normal and happy. You've turned on 'show hidden files' a la tinkerTool and you're looking at the dev 'alias' in the finder? The finder does some jiggery-pokery to hide this from the user.

% ll /dev -d
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Feb 8 14:19 /dev/

% ll /dev
total 0
crw------- 1 root wheel 7, 0 Feb 8 17:01 bpf0
crw------- 1 root wheel 7, 1 Feb 8 14:19 bpf1
...

> Everything is working so nicely...

Well, automount, .vol and Servers icons appearing on yer desktop is kooky. What is in your ~/Desktop dir ?

And yer compile error could be caused by something other than what it says. Some errors can be wrong and/or misleading. Before you tear down Xanadu, let's see if anyone else can contribute to your 'good times'.

Can you compile anything? Or is the result the same?

[mervTormel]

man, so many search engines have broken fan belts... but not google !

i just fed google : [ could not determine how to read list of mounted filesystems ]

and a busload of links came up about fileutils.

so don't burn down Terra! just yet.

[thatch]

> I'm pretty sure this would be rebuilt on the fly, perhaps at startup, as it is only a map of pointers that may or may not point anywhere.

I think you are correct that the stuff in /Network would prolly be rebuilt on a restart.

> If you look at /dev in your shell, you'll see that it's quite normal and happy. You've turned on 'show hidden files' a la tinkerTool and you're looking at the dev 'alias' in the finder? The finder does some jiggery-pokery to hide this from the user.

Yup, I have TinkerTool on and that's what I was fiddling with in the finder.

But when I check that via termial as you showed, it says:

ls: -d: No such file or directory
/dev:
...
and then it goes on to give me a huge amount of data with MORE at the bottom. It's the right stuff but apparently it doesn't like that -d flag? When I do it without the -d as you did secondly, it puts out the same data again which is correct, I believe.

> Well, automount, .vol and Servers icons appearing on yer desktop is kooky. What is in your ~/Desktop dir ?

Agreed... kooky in deed. Here's what's in ~/Desktop:

total 392
drwx------ 6 thatch staff 264 Feb 8 17:32 .
drwxr-xr-x 18 thatch staff 568 Feb 8 18:26 ..
-rw-rw-rw- 1 thatch staff 42807 Feb 8 17:32 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r-- 1 thatch staff 149504 Jan 24 16:47 .FBCIndex
drwxrwxrwx 4 thatch staff 264 Feb 7 11:58 .FBCLockFolder
lrwx------ 1 thatch staff 15 Feb 8 17:32 Desktop (Mac OS 9) -> /Deskt
op Folder

> And yer compile error could be caused by something other than what it says. Some errors can be wrong and/or misleading. Before you tear down Xanadu, let's see if anyone else can contribute to your 'good times'.

Will do. I've got time to wait and see. It sure would be nice not to have to do what I was about to do.

> Can you compile anything? Or is the result the same?

Haven't tried anything else after last night with the fileutils. Maybe I ought to though. Can you suggest something simple and non-obtrusive considering where I'm at with all this? TIA!

I'll now consolidate your next reply into this one...

Well, no need to quote on that. I agree Google is too hip. I won't burn it down 'til I've had a look see and maybe even then some. Something else might come up and it's worth the wait, me thinks.

[mervTormel]

> ls: -d: No such file or directory
> /dev:

Okay, I think this is pilot error so don't get hung up on it just now. Your /dev directory is prolly fine.

>> Well, automount, .vol and Servers icons appearing on yer desktop is kooky.
>> What is in your ~/Desktop dir ?
>
> Agreed... kooky in deed. Here's what's in ~/Desktop:
> ...
> lrwx------ 1 thatch staff 15 Feb 8 17:32 Desktop (Mac OS 9) -> /Desktop Folder

See that thing? It's a symlink to "/Desktop Folder" so, we either need to see what's in there, or delete every mother-lovin' thing out of your ~/Desktop dir and never look back. I did and I've never looked back. of course, if you've recently put something important in your ~/Desktop, move it somewhere safe and tender, _then_ nuke the contents of that money-lovin' bunny-funster.

>> Can you compile anything? Or is the result the same?
>
> Haven't tried anything else after last night with the fileutils. Maybe I ought
> to though. Can you suggest something simple and non-obtrusive considering
> where I'm at with all this? TIA!

You might try looking for something small over at fink like:

http://fink.sourceforge.net/pdb/package.php/findutils

Be sure to read the README and the other suggested docs

[thatch]

> Okay, I think this is pilot error so don't get hung up on it just now. Your /dev directory is prolly fine.

% ll /dev -d -- That's what I typed but I agree that dev is fine.

> See that thing? It's a symlink to "/Desktop Folder" so, we either need to see what's in there, or delete every mother-lovin' thing out of your ~/Desktop dir and never look back. I did and I've never looked back. of course, if you've recently put something important in your ~/Desktop, move it somewhere safe and tender, _then_ nuke the contents of that money-lovin' bunny-funster.

I thought that was supposed to be there. Doesn't everyone have one of those on their desktop? Anyway, the only thing inside it is .DS_Store. And here's what's inside my /Desktop Folder:

total 24
drwxrwxrwx 3 root staff 58 Jan 19 12:53 .
drwxrwxr-t 42 root admin 1384 Feb 8 12:57 ..
-rw-rw-rw- 1 thomasth staff 10244 Dec 21 03:48 .DS_Store

So let me get this straight now. Do I want to rm -rf my ~/Desktop? Or just what's inside it? Or just that 'Desktop (Mac OS 9)'? I think the later is what you meant but I just want to double check before scraping anything.

> You might try looking for something small over at fink like:

> http://fink.sourceforge.net/pdb/package.php/findutils

> Be sure to read the README and the other suggested docs

Okay, I just might do that a little later on.... got some other non-computer related stuff I have to do first.

But, I checked out the Google search info and came up with a slight excision to the configure file for fileutils-4.0. I then ran it and it actually finished although I saw some errors listed along the way. Then I did the make and it finished but again with some errors along the way.

Went back to the resexcellence page about the list colors and put in the alias and it didn't work. Hmm. Then I happened to notice at the top of that page that:

"The following may not work on newer systems:"

Sheesh! And that was below where it had said it would work with 10.1.2 but it was small and I must have missed it the first time around. So, I'll bet I can compile anything just fine taking into consideration that a lot of folks were having this problem according to Google.

Thanks again for all your help Merv. And to think I might have done a complete reinstall, and I have never done one of those yet on X. It has been a learning experience for me. I hope it hasn't been too much of a waste of your time though.
:rolleyes:

[mervTormel]

not at all.

just nuke the contents of your ~/Desktop Folder, regarding the previous caveats that you haven't put your entire 1955 pinup girls collection in there (you never know).

and beware of dated material on websites. ( i know, some of this material isn't dated ) look for corroboration.

[thatch]

> just nuke the contents of your ~/Desktop Folder, regarding the previous caveats that you haven't put your entire 1955 pinup girls collection in there (you never know).

Done. Maybe that might help with the kookiness and those alias icons appearing on the desktop although I don't think they appear unless I click on them from a finder window in /.

As for those pinup girls, I have to hide 'em real good otherwise my wife might be wearing my testicles for earrings.

> and beware of dated material on websites. ( i know, some of this material isn't dated ) look for corroboration.

I got that tip from Rusto's post in the thread called Terminal Mods. Perhaps I should post to that thread that it doesn't work for newer Macs so no one else falls into it because it is rather deceiving, (the web site, that is).