Hidden files in Mac OS X (was: Mac Mini)

[Clinton MacDonald]

Mr. Flory:

RON FLORY wrote:
>  This is WAY, WAY off-topic, but I have a simple question.
> I'm a Linux user who is still trying to figure out the
> quirks of OSX.

Welcome to the Macintosh! You might be a candidate for one of the 
several books discussing the Unix underpinnings of Mac OS X, like 
_Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther_

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596006179/qid=1106316034/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/102-9295406-5524934?v=glance&s=books>


> I created a /opt directory to place scratch files into,
> but the OSX GUI will not display this directory in any
> file dialog.

Mac OS X tries to hide all but the files it believes the user should 
need to know about (often, though not always, it is correct). To that 
end, it honors a ".hidden" file at the root directory. You can see it in 
Terminal.app:

Clinton-MacDonalds-Computer:/ clint$ cat .hidden
automount
bin
cores
Desktop DB
Desktop DF
Desktop Folder
dev
etc
lost+found
mach
mach_kernel
mach.sym
opt
private
[...]
VM Storage
Volumes

Notice that "/opt" is on that proscribed list. However, everything on 
the list is fully accessible from the Terminal, so that should be useful 
to you. If you *really* want to see a folder in a Finder window, go to 
the Finder and select "Go to Folder" from the "Go" menu 
(shift-command-G). You can then type in "/opt" and you will see a new 
window open with the contents of the /opt directory.

> Is there a magic trick under OSX 10.3 to allow any/all
> directories on the internal system drive to be seen in
> GUI file dialogs?

Yes, there is a trick. Go back to the Finder, use the "Go to Folder" 
trick to make your directory visible. Then drag the folder proxy (that 
little folder emblem at the top of the brushed-metal window) into the 
sidebar on the left. You will now have a shortcut to the /opt directory 
in the sidebar which will be visible in all (most?) Open and Save dialog 
boxes.

However, do you have a compelling reason to create a "/opt" directory? 
This is my personal opinion, but why burden yourself with Unix/Linux 
conventions in Mac OS X? If you want a spot for scratch files, you can 
name it anything you want and locate it anywhere you want. You could 
easily make a folder called "Temporary files for Ron" and place it 
inside your user directory, if you saw fit. Mac OS X has its 
conventions, but they make a lot of sense to novices and some experts. 
For instance, applications are stored in a folder called "Applications" 
(or "/Applications," if you will). To me, that makes so much more sense 
than storing applications ("packages" in the Linux world) in different 
directories named "/etc" or "/bin/" or "/etc/bin" or "/bin/etc" or 
"/sbin/etc/bin/etc/foobar/bin/catbreath" or something else I forget (I 
am not at my Linux box right now, so I probably have the names all wrong 
:-) ).

Just my opinion, and you should feel free to ignore me if you have 
better reasons (I would like to know them).

Good luck with mac OS X!

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>