[X-Newbies] Corrupted User Prefs

[Michael Winter]

On Jun 14, 2005, at 1:27 AM, Tony Johansen wrote:

> Regarding:
> <http://securityawareness.blogspot.com/2005/05/comments-from-mac-
> expert.html>
>
> ' For instance, a problem that was previously not uncommon when  
> using OS X
> was having an application refuse to launch, or unexpectedly  
> quitting, due to
> a corrupted user preferences file. This problem is all but  
> eliminated in
> Tiger.'

I'm still trying to figure out what the OS has to do with it. Aren't  
apps responsible for their own preference files? I'm just a dabbler  
on the programming side of things, but for my stuff preferences work  
as follows:

The user starts the program:
    Preference file is read in (calls OS code)
    My code runs a check to make sure values in preferences are valid.
    My code uses values in preferences to initialize various parameters.
    Program runs.
User changes preferences:
    My code verifies values are valid.
    Preference file is written to disk (again calls OS code).

Note that reading/writing preference files is no different than any  
other file, so they shouldn't be corrupted any more often than any  
other file.

Note also that the OS has no idea what kind of stuff is in the  
preference file, so it has no way of knowing if values are valid or  
not -no way of knowing if the file is corrupted.

So I really don't understand how an OS upgrade can eliminate  
preference corruption unless it somehow improved overall file read/ 
write reliability.

But back to the problem at hand,

> Problem: Recently purchased ToonBoomExpress software. Whenever I  
> try to
> launch it the licensing window appears, when the cursor hovers over  
> the
> window, the spinning ball appears, and the program crashes within  
> seconds.

The file you want to trash (the preference file) would be found in ~/ 
Library/Preferences. However, based on your description, I get the  
impression its crashing because it can't write a preference file to  
begin with -that's either a permissions problem or the app is trying  
to write files where its not supposed to. Run Repair Permissions in  
the Disk Utility program (found in /Applications/Utilities). That may  
solve your problem.

-Mike