Why can't I run the uname command?

Question

Level 1

24 points

Why can't I run the uname command?

When I tried to install some software I found that the uname file is empty:

MacBook:bin jim$ ls -l uname
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 uname

I found this article - http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/08/mac-os-x-10-6.ars/3
that talks about these zero length files and how they really are not empty. Running the uname command this way, produces:

MacBook:bin jim$ ls -l@ uname
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 uname
com.apple.ResourceFork 8239
com.apple.decmpfs 1

But I am still stuck on how to run the uname command so it outputs the expected data.

Mac Pro Nehalem Quad 2.66 - Unibody MacBook Pro 2.26 - iPod Touch - iPod Video, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 4, 2010 8:32 PM

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Answer 1

red_menace

Level 6

17,030 points

May 4, 2010 9:44 PM in response to James Arnold

You are not running the uname command, you are just listing information about the file. Note that there is a Unix forum, you will probably have better luck there.

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Answer 2

May 5, 2010 2:35 AM in response to James Arnold

I'm a bit confused with what you are asking. If you trying to get the output from the command uname then try->


uname -a

The man page will explain other options that you can use. It's interesting that you can "see" the new hfs file compression in the BSD layer. On my machine it's transparent.


ls -l /usr/bin/uname
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 50912 May 18 2009 /usr/bin/uname

I need to use the tool, hfsdebug, in order to "see" that the data fork is compressed inside the resource fork.

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Answer 3

James Arnold Author

Level 1

24 points

May 5, 2010 6:28 AM in response to James Arnold

running uname -a returns nothing.

This started when trying to install an upgrade to NeoOffice, which apparently used uname to determine if it's an Intel or PPC machine. Since uname returns nothing the installation fails.

MacBook:~ jim$ /usr/bin/uname -a
MacBook:~ jim$

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Answer 4

Dobecka

Level 1

0 points

May 5, 2010 7:10 AM in response to James Arnold

Interesting, I get:

10.3.0 Darwin Kernel Version 10.3.0: Fri Feb 26 11:58:09 PST 2010; root:xnu-1504.3.12~1/RELEASE_I386 i386

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Answer 5

BobHarris

Level 9

53,117 points

May 5, 2010 7:50 AM in response to James Arnold

MacBook:bin jim$ ls -l uname
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 uname

The file that used to contain the uname command is empty.

Something trashed the file.

I have not seen this in the past, so I do not know of a common activity users do that would do this.

Do you have other files in /usr/bin that are also zero length?

You can restore uname from your installation DVD using Pacifist
<http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/mac/12743>

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Answer 6

May 5, 2010 9:52 AM in response to James Arnold

Well, if uname is trashed who knows what else is. If it was me then I would reinstall the OS- I know that is not what you wanted to hear.

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Answer 7

James Arnold Author

Level 1

24 points

May 5, 2010 9:10 PM in response to BobHarris

I tried to install Pacifist a few days back and it would not install. The message is that the app is either damaged or infected with a virus. I tried both the ZIP and DMG files. I am actually corresponding with the author of Pacifist about this, and he is puzzled by my problem.

Tonight I ran Disk Utility off the Snow Leopard DVD against the Intel X25-M in my MBP. It found no problems with my disk.

Below are all the 0 length files in /usr/bin

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 25 2009 certtool
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 checknr
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 14 2009 chflags
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 14 2009 chgrp
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 14 2009 cksum
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 25 2009 codesign
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 2 2009 codesign_allocate
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 col
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 colcrt
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 colldef
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 colrm
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 column
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 comm
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 28 2009 compile_et
-r-xr-xr-x@ 2 root wheel 0 Jul 14 2009 compress
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 config_data5.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 config_data5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 corelist5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 corelist5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 cpan2dist5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 cpan5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 cpan5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 cpanp-run-perl5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 cpanp5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 cpuwalk.d
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 crc32
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 crc325.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 crc325.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 creatbyproc.d
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 25 2009 crlrefresh
-r-sr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 crontab
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 csplit
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 25 2009 csreq
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 _uucp wheel 0 May 18 2009 cu
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 cups-calibrate
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 cut
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 dappprof
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 dapptrace
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 db_codegen
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 db_hotbackup
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbilogstrip
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbilogstrip5.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbilogstrip5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbiprof
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbiprof5.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbiprof5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbiproxy
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbiproxy5.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dbiproxy5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 dc
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 diffpp
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 diffstat
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 31 2009 dig
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 dirname
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 diskhits
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 dispqlen.d
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 ditto
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 dprofpp5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 dprofpp5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 dscacheutil
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 dscl
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 dserr
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dsexport
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 dsimport
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 dsmemberutil
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 dsperfmonitor
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 dtruss
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 14 2009 du
-rwxr-xr-x@ 2 root wheel 0 Jul 1 2009 easy_install
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 1 2009 easy_install-2.5
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 1 2009 easy_install-2.6
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 efax
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 efix
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 emacs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 0 Jun 25 2009 emacs-i386
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 gluedialect
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 gluedoc
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 glueedit
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 gluemac
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 gluescriptadds
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 grep
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 ipcount
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 iptab
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 join
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 jot
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 lwp-download
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 lwp-mirror
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 lwp-request
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 lwp-rget
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 macerror
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 piconv5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 piconv5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 pidpersec.d
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pl2pm5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pl2pm5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Aug 1 2009 plockstat
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2html5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2html5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2latex5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2latex5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2man5.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2man5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 pod2readme
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 pod2readme5.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 pod2readme5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2text5.10.0
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2text5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2usage5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 pod2usage5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 podchecker5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 podchecker5.8.9
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 podselect5.10.0
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jun 24 2009 podselect5.8.9
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 Jul 14 2009 readlink
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 refer
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 renice
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 spfd
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 spfquery
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 ul
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 uname
-r-xr-xr-x@ 2 root wheel 0 Jul 14 2009 uncompress
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 unexpand
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 uniq
-r-xr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 0 May 18 2009 units
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 wxperl_demo.pl
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 wxperl_overload
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 wxperl_xspp
-rwxr-xr-x@ 2 root wheel 0 Jul 1 2009 xattr
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 xgettext.pl
-rwxr-xr-x@ 24 root wheel 0 May 19 2009 xpath

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Answer 8

James Arnold Author

Level 1

24 points

May 9, 2010 4:01 PM in response to James Arnold

The author of Pacificst was really helpful in diagnosing this problem. His theory:

"My suspicion is that either the Snow Leopard installer screwed up or some other third-party program hosed the entire contents of /usr/bin, and the reason why some of them now work while others don’t is that some of the files in there have been replaced by various Apple software updates since then. I did notice that egrep is in the 10.6.3 combo update and grep is not, and that consequently egrep is working on your system while grep is not."

I wound up reinstalling the OS which fixed my problems. Thanks to Migration Assistant this was a painless process.

But a last shout out to the author of Pacifist, Charles, who is one of the good guys.

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