how can I access /usr/local from a Mac file dialog

[xargon]

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to do this for the last hour and am completely frustrated.

I have to add some header files and libraries in my XCode project and these files are in the /usr/local directory. I can see them from my console... I can do cd /usr/local and it works fine.

Now, how can I access this path from a file dialog box???! XCode shows me the file dialog where I have to select the path and I cannot navigate to this directory.

Please help! I am going crazy!

Cheers,
Luca

 

[mac57]

In Finder, use the Go, Go To Folder dialog. It opens a window that lets you type in the path you want. I just tried this under Tiger and it works like charm.

 

[technologist]

To get to it in a file chooser dialog, you'll need to either

1. Make it visible, using something like TinkerTool
2. Leave it invisible, but make a visible alias* to it. There are several ways to do this, the easiest of which is to use the "Go To" command as mac57 suggested, and then holding down the Command and Option keys and dragging the folder icon from the title bar (the very top of the window) to the Desktop, or some other folder. Then you can navigate to this alias in the file chooser.

*By alias, I mean a Macintosh alias, a pointer file, not the Unix alias command.

 

[walkerj]

*By alias, I mean a Macintosh alias, a pointer file, not the Unix alias command.

Ah, not to be pedantic (but of course I am) in the Unix world we would consider that to be a symlink.

And yeah, that would probably work pretty well.

 

[mac57]

By the way, is there any reason why you could not just use good 'ol bash from Terminal.app to put the files where you need them to be? The cp command should do the trick, no?

 

[Dysfunction]

Ack, I should read. Never mind

 

[mac57]

Ack, I should read. Never mind

Phew, because I read this post just before you edited it and couldn't figure out what your suggested incantation would do!

 

[technologist]

Ah, not to be pedantic (but of course I am) in the Unix world we would consider that to be a symlink.

And yeah, that would probably work pretty well.

The point being, there are two different, but equally correct uses of the word "alias" in OS X, which can be especially confusing in situations like this where the Unix side meets the Mac side.

Symlinks are more like Windows Shortcuts than aliases: they both lose their targets far too easily.

 

[Dysfunction]

The point being, there are two different, but equally correct uses of the word "alias" in OS X, which can be especially confusing in situations like this where the Unix side meets the Mac side.

Symlinks are more like Windows Shortcuts than aliases: they both lose their targets far too easily.

you can easily do a hard link in Unix too, although you can't span volumes with them as they point to a specific inode.

FWIW the term 'alias' in the unix environment would apply to a command anyway.

 

[dvint]

To get to it in a file chooser dialog, you'll need to either

1. Make it visible, using something like TinkerTool
2. Leave it invisible, but make a visible alias* to it. There are several ways to do this, the easiest of which is to use the "Go To" command as mac57 suggested, and then holding down the Command and Option keys and dragging the folder icon from the title bar (the very top of the window) to the Desktop, or some other folder. Then you can navigate to this alias in the file chooser.

*By alias, I mean a Macintosh alias, a pointer file, not the Unix alias command.

A coworker suggested what I think is a friendlier way, although I still don't understand why there just isn't a Mac preference to undo this feature.

So the suggestion is to go into Finder first.

1) Go > Go to folder and enter /usr/local. Should now show you the folders in this location.
2) At the bottom of the finder window are some icons showing the path. Drag the usr icon up into the Favorites section and it will now be available with the file chooser dialog box in the future.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

This is a 8+ year post..

 

[cradom]

Seems there's a bit of this going around Ashwin. New users answering zombie posts.

 

[chscag]

Seems there's a bit of this going around Ashwin. New users answering zombie posts.

Yikes! A zombie uprising. ;P

 

[cradom]

<---- At least I'm dressed for it