"usr" folder in Applications folder?

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"usr" folder in Applications folder?

Today I noticed a folder inside my Applications folder called "usr". Inside it are other folders: "bin" "lib" and "share". I got info and see that it was created last September and modified on Jan 5th this year. Since its name has no cap, I was wondering if this is supposed to be an invisible folder. Therefore, I'm afraid to just toss it. I did a Spotlight search, and the only place that this folder exists is inside the Applications folder on my boot drive and in the Applications folder on my external cloned backup of that boot drive.

Can I delete this folder?

MacPro 3.0GHz, Dual Quad, 8GB RAM, 250GB+750GB HD, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Jan 14, 2009 9:09 AM

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Answer 1

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 14, 2009 1:20 PM in response to Matt Clifton

Yes. It says : drwxr-xr-x@ 12 root wheel 408 Nov 9 22:01 usr

Like I said, I did a Spotlight search and the only copies I found of the usr folder were in the Applications folder of the boot drive and the external clone. None found anywhere else.

I have been using SuperDuper to update the backup clone each Monday. Since the last modified date was on a Monday, I suspect that might have something to do with it. I just never noticed it before in the Applications folder.

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Answer 2

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 15, 2009 2:05 PM in response to Joe Vincent

Today I discovered teh source of the extra "usr" folder in my Application folder. It was evidently installed by the EyeTV software for use with my EyeTV 250+ tuner. I could not get that software to launch. I restored that usr folder and the software launced. Go figure...

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Answer 3

Jan 14, 2009 9:16 AM in response to Joe Vincent

Hi Joe

The "usr" folder should actually live in the root of your hard drive. I'd be surprised if it wasn't there and your system was still working correctly. It's possible that you're either looking at an inadvertent copy, or a link to the original folder. Open up Terminal and type each of these two lines, hitting the return key after each line:

cd /
ls -al

Hopefully you should see a "usr" folder there. Now type:

cd Applications
ls -al

At the end of the listing, you'll see your errant usr folder. Does its entry look like this:

drwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel 374 Jan 12 23:49 usr

Or is there an "l" in place of that "d" at the start, ie, something like this:

lrwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel 374 Jan 12 23:49 usr -> /usr

Matt

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Answer 4

Jan 14, 2009 1:35 PM in response to Joe Vincent

It sounds like you do have two copies. The hidden one won't show up in a Spotlight search. The OS X system certainly won't be using the Applications/usr folder for anything. One way of dealing with this is to temporarily rename that new folder - for example, call it "usrtemp" or something, and then work for a few days as you normally do and see if anything breaks. If not, you can feel free to remove that folder.

Matt

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Answer 5

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 14, 2009 2:00 PM in response to Matt Clifton

Thanks, Matt. I'll try that for a few days and see what happens. Just to make sure, by renaming the "new folder" you do mean the urs folder that's in my Applications folder - otherwise I can't see any other usr folder to rename...

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Answer 6

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 14, 2009 2:45 PM in response to Matt Clifton

Matt,

Repairing disk permissions did not help.

I noticed that the Sharing portion of the Get Info window on the "usr" folder has "wheel" as one option. "system" has Read&Write, "wheel" has Read Only, and "everyone" has Read Only.

I have no users named "wheel." The users in my Accounts panel are myself, my son, "Trouble"(for booting when I can't boot into my account for some reason), and Guest. The first three have admin privileges. Guest does not.

Is the system trying to protect itself from me renaming the usr file, thus thwarting my efforts?

In your earlier post you said that I should not rename the usr folder "directly within your hard drive" because it will cause problems. I looked at the external clone of the boot drive. I see folders on that hard drive that are obviously invisible if on the boot drive - folders like "dev" "home" and "net." Since it is a clone of my boot drive, why do I not see a "usr" folder on that hard drive like the other invisible folders? Where is the invisible usr supposed to be?

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

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123,784 points

Jan 14, 2009 3:30 PM in response to Joe Vincent

wheel is a default OS X group name. Those are the correct permissions for the usr folder. As mentioned, the copy in your Applications folder is odd.

The usr folder should be located at the root directory, so you should see it listed with a

ls -al /

or you can "Go to Folder" in the Finder and type in /usr for the folder. It should open up a window inside the /usr folder.

If you don't see a usr folder at the root directory (which is what the previous poster meant by "directly on your hard drive"), I'm not sure how everything is functioning properly.

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Answer 8

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 14, 2009 3:50 PM in response to Barney-15E

Hi, Barney. Thanks for helping. I just did what you said with "Go To Folder" and it opened a usr folder which is located on my hard drive. So I obviously have two usr folders on my boot drive. One is invisible at the root level and the other is visible in the Apps folder.

Matt had suggested renaming the one in my Apps folder to see if anything changed. The Finder will not let me rename it. I suspect that it will also not let me delete it either. I think I see where this is going. I will have to boot from my external clone in order to remove the bogus usr folder. I guess I should remove the bogus usr folder from the external clone first, but the question I have in my most recent posting is: why don't I see a usr folder on the hard drive of the external clone like I see the dev, home and net folders?

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Answer 9

Barney-15E

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Jan 14, 2009 4:28 PM in response to Joe Vincent

If you are an admin user, you can change the name in the terminal:

sudo mv /Applications/usr/ /Applications/oldusr

sudo means super user do and mv stands for move. Move is the rename command since, in unix, the file name is actually the entire path. To rename, you move the file/folder to a new location.

The sudo command will ask for your admin password and won't echo the characters. Be careful with sudo as it gives you immense power.

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Answer 10

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 14, 2009 8:31 PM in response to Barney-15E

I'm not very comfortable using Terminal (that's why I use Macs!) so I did this: I deleted the extra usr folder that was in the Apps folder on the external clone. I restarted from that external clone. Then I deleted the extra usr folder from the Apps folder on internal drive. Then I restarted from the internal drive.

So far everything seems to be working fine. I still have no idea why or how the additional usr folder came to be, but I suspect SuperDuper - or CarbonCopyCloner which I used previously.

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Answer 11

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 16, 2009 7:16 PM in response to Barney-15E

According to the elgato experts, that usr folder was not installed by EyeTV. Whatever the case, without it, EyeTV will not launch. Most of the files in the enclosed folders have "xml" as part of their file names. Perhaps this usr folder is necessary for EyeTv to function, but belongs somewhere else in my Mac's system. I don't know. I'm just leaving it back in my Applications folder so that everything "works normally."

As far as I can tell, it wasn't harming the computer's operation before I deleted it. It had evidently been there for several months before I discovered it. The only problems I've had since changing to OS 10.5 is the "blue screen of death" issue, but I've discovered that I can avoid that by downloading software updates and installing them separately rather than letting Software Update do it. The EyeTV software was installed after the blue screen problem began.

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Answer 12

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 14, 2009 1:24 PM in response to Matt Clifton

The second Terminal inputs also yielded a usr in the list:

drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 170 Jan 5 20:36 usr

Do I have a visible copy and an invisible copy of the usr folder?

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Answer 13

Jan 14, 2009 2:08 PM in response to Joe Vincent

Exactly. (Don't rename the hidden one that's directly within your hard drive - that will cause problems.)

Matt

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Answer 14

Joe Vincent Author

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Jan 14, 2009 2:15 PM in response to Matt Clifton

Interestingly, I get a "Don't have permissions" message when I try to rename the folder. I am logged in as the only user - a admin user. I am currently repairing permissions on the boot drive.

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Answer 15

Barney-15E

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123,784 points

Jan 15, 2009 3:28 PM in response to Joe Vincent

Sounds like their installer is messed up. They probably intended it to go into the main usr folder, but instead installed within the /Applications path.

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