BDAqua wrote:
libcurl.4.dylib
created 5/01/08 650PM
239,832 Bytes
Owner system R/W
Group wheel RO
Others RO
But do not install this file without installing the security update it is a part of! That will almost certainly not work and could mess other things up.
No, I don't know why I'm missing the lib. I haven't ever installed any security updates
This is why it is missing. Tiger used an earlier version of libcurl before security update 2008-002. If you've never installed a security update, you will not have this version of the library.
as I keep reading on Macfixit and elsewhere about things going wrong more often than not with Security Updates. I suspect I might be wrong in this approach.
The same could be said of OS updates generally. If you don't install security updates now, you are unlikely to get the fixes for a long time, if at all, because Apple is unlikely to update Tiger beyond 10.4.11 now Leopard is out. Normally, you probably got security fixes but just later than most people when Apple included them in general Tiger updates. Now, though, you are likely to get them only if you install security updates as this is likely to be the way Apple continues support for Tiger.
If you are worried, use the precautions MacFixIt and others recommend. Repair permissions before and after. Boot into "safe boot" mode to run the update. Backup before you update etc. If you have a working backup and backup just before you update, you can always go back to the backup. If you don't backup then you are exposing yourself to greater risks than those posed by Apple's security updates. Bear in mind that not installing security fixes is a risk in itself. If means you are running a system with known vulnerabilities. I've been using OS X since 10.1. I've had one update force me to reinstall my OS and that was a regular OS update - not a security update. Nowadays I have the facilities to clone my system so I clone before installing any system update. That way, if there's a problem I can easily get back to just where I was before installing it. I have not had to do that in Tiger (or, I think, in Panther - I believe a Jaguar update may have been the one that caused me problems). Sometimes it is good to wait a couple of days and see if people have problems and, if so, if you think they might affect you though I tend to think security updates are probably actually a better risk than general OS updates - if only because they tend to be more specific and affect fewer parts of the system.
My 2 cents.
As regards the BSD sub-system, doesn't that get installed as a minimum part of the OS? I thought so; am I wrong?
It is possible to leave it out if you do a custom install and deselect it. If Apple installed the OS or if you did an easy install, you definitely have it. Anyway, I don't think it is relevant here. You don't have the file because you didn't install security update 2008-002.
- cfr
