Sandbox and FruitMenu
 

I backed up my system to a Sandbox partition (another partition on my drive to which I backed up using SuperDuper's sandbox feature "Shared users and applications"). I then started up from that Sandbox partition and updated the OS (using a standalone combo updater). I wanted to explore if there are any problems for me because of the OS upgrade.

I discovered an incompatibility of OS X 10.4.10 with FruitMenu (*). I therefore did not upgrade the MacOS on my main partition and went back to that original partition continuing on 10.4.8. The Sandbox feature of SuperDuper is therefore useful.

However, as it turned out later, the problem with the OS update was only on the sandbox partition! I found out because I later ran the OS update on a full featured backup of my system, on a mirror of my main drive. The said problem did not exist anymore.

I conclude that there is something very particular (and strange) happening when running a System via Aliases (or Symbolic Links ?) where the home folder is accessed via an Alias.

I know it would be easy to blame Unsanity in this case - but their software works FINE with SuperDuper! (when not on a Sandbox partition).

The effect which I discovered defeats the whole purpose of Sandbox and makes me wonder: What if also other glitches which I could discover (running from Sandbox) only happen on Sandbox but are fine when running in standard mode ?


-Martin

(*) When accessing an empty folder from FruitMenu, Finder crashes. Normally a grayed out item would show in the sub menu (I think saying "empty folder"), but FruitMenu seems to have problems finding anything and causes Finder to crash. The problem should be able to be reproduced.

There shouldn't be: a Sandbox's Home folder is very much the same as a Network Home folder or even a FileVault...

Theoretically ;)

In reality however my problem exists - and with it my perception of the "Sandbox".

In reality therefore I can only assume that if it WORKS on Sandbox that it's OK also for the main drive. If it does NOT work on Sandbox (in my example) it does not automatically mean that it won't work on the main drive...

-Martin

I now updated my main volume to the latest Mac OS (10.4.10) and there's no problem with FruitMenu. The problem is only on the Sandbox volume.

What's going on here? Anybody else seeing this?

Remember, the problem is only when on Sandbox partition, and when a folder in the FruitMenu menu is EMPTY. FruitMenu does not show the grayed out "Empty Folder" info but tries to find something, then Finder crashes.

I'm on a G4 dual 500MHz and use the latest FruitMenu 3.64. My main system comes from an attached FireWire 400 drive with about 45GB of space left. The sandbox partition is on the same drive and has about 10GB space left. The name of my main drive consists of no international characters (name is "Factory"). The name of my Sandbox partition is "Sandbox Factory". My home folder has 755 and all folders inside have 700 as permissions (except of course "Sites" and "Public"). Owner is yours truly and Group is set to admin. My account is an admin account.

So why is the problem?? The problem should be easy to be reproduced. Can anybody verify -- Is it just me?!


-Martin

PS: I tried to install FruitMenu for "all users" but this did NOT help. It's really strange. Because for example when I create a new user on the Sandbox partition and then install FruitMenu for only that new user it also works FINE. Therefore I conclude that the "path" is somewhat the problem -- so i put the ball in Dave's court ;) -- I have contacted Unsanity too however.