Undocumented Feature or Little Nuisance?

MBP17•David · Jul 10, 2014

I have just discovered a new "feature" in Mavericks (10.9.4):

A hidden file, icns in particular, as I haven't tried others, can no longer be made unhidden in GUI: a simple and quick "copy | remove full stop" way no longer works - copied and renamed file remains hidden, and I had to go to the Terminal and change flags to get the result.

Now, there might be some "lets protect the uninitiated" train of thought behind this, just as the reasoning for the [now] hidden Library, but it feels a bit too petty $:\$ - as I create my own icons for many drives, I'd like to keep backup copies ... now it involves firing up the Terminal ... well, perhaps I should be grateful, a little CLI practice ;D

osxx · Jul 10, 2014

I believe Command + Shft +. will work in list view.

MBP17•David · Jul 10, 2014

Of course, to be able to see hidden files, it's ⌘⇧.

I was mumbling about changing a hidden file to unhidden, so that it can be viewed as any "normal" file (a duplicate icon file in this case).
It used to be enough to remove the leading full stop in the file name to change the attribute, now one needs to do it in the Terminal ...

pm-r · Jul 10, 2014

Would any of this info help you with your "hiding" projects??
Quickly Show/Hide Hidden Files on Mac OS X Mavericks | Ian Lunn - Front End Developer

Delete hidden "Icon" files after "Showing All Files"? - MacRumors Forums

MBP17•David · Jul 10, 2014

pm-r said:
Would any of this info help you with your "hiding" projects??

Thanks pm-r, but you've completely missed the point of my post:

I wasn't asking for help, in fact, I explained how to achieve a certain task, in view of changed OS X code.

It is not always necessary to offer advice, particularly when the matter discussed, is beyond one's level of comprehension - just picking a few words and "googling" them, however good the intentions, merely sidetracks the thread.

pm-r · Jul 10, 2014

Sorry to get you so upset David, but what I read and understood was that you were looking for an easier and quicker way of performing your new discovery.

I'll restrict my misguided attempt to help in the future. And by your tone, you seemed to be a bit miffed with osxx's post as well.

Anyway, have a nice day and it's just a beautiful summer day here.

cradom · Jul 10, 2014

Some files are just hidden no matter what, and don't necessarily have a full stop in front. There used to be a system file which controlled that but I cant find it on Mavericks.
Yes it's a pain but I guess you got to keep the noobs from killing things.

MBP17•David · Jul 11, 2014

cradom said:
Yes it's a pain but I guess you got to keep the noobs from killing things.

Absolutely! To be honest, it's not that much of a pain either - I quite enjoyed remembering chflags

MBP17•David · Jul 11, 2014

pm-r said:
Sorry to get you so upset David, but what I read and understood was that you were looking for an easier and quicker way of performing your new discovery.

pm-r, dear old chap, you've misread it again, completely

I wasn't upset in the slightest, and my reply meant, just what it said.

Think of it in this way:

A heart surgeon posts a note, saying he had to perform a known, but slightly more complicated procedure, during an open heart surgery.

You then post a link to two articles, one about how to hold a scalpel, the other to discussion, started by someone, who was worried his heart might come flying out through his left nostril, if he sneeze hard. I simply pointed out, that just because words "scalpel" and "heart" were present in original post, the links are not necessarily relevant.

pm-r said:
And by your tone, you seemed to be a bit miffed with osxx's post as well.

Certainly not! It was a perfectly accurate bit of information.

pm-r said:
Anyway, have a nice day and it's just a beautiful summer day here.

Lucky you! Yes, we have had summer here too, yesterday ... Today it's back to normal ... lol