Where is a comprehensive list of error codes?

Thanks, seventy--

That's a very useful list. Unfortunately, it does not contain the number I'm looking for (-1409).

Somewhere there just has to be a list like this which contains all the codes.

--Gil

Thanks for trying, Klaus, but these two lists ccontain only a few dozen of the possibly 65,535 error codes.

Both of them contain some intriguing links at the bottom, but the two links that would have included the error code number that I am looking for (-1409) both link to the apple.com site's home page. Evidently, Apple employees have pulled Knowledge Base articles numbered 9804 and 9806 but, rather than give us a 404-Not Found error, missing links simply lead back to their home page.

I guess the whole Knowledge Base process is defunct; I have seen recently a number of links to "kb" articles handled this way.

I wonder what this behavior portends?

--Gil

Thanks for the suggestions. I sent Kevin a message...

Hi, Kevin--

Thank you for compiling a very large list of Mac error codes. I just got one that's not on your list, -1409. I'm not sure what caused it. I got it when I tried to run an AppleScript...

set aFileRef to open for access file "MBProHD:Users:gil:aPackage"

where aPackage was a package, instead of a file. Not sure what it means.

--Gil

I tried Googling "An error of type -1409 has occurred." It got a large number of hits; however most were of the form "Try this and see whether it goes away." In other words, no definition. Then I found one thread where a Senior Member posted a definition without attribution...

Error: -1409

Macintosh system error (-1409) * Named fork does not exist */ error

The info we have on this error means that some part of the OS is damaged or missing, (assuming that the HD directories & such aren't messed up). Try reinstalling the last big combo update from Apple. It's possible that you will have to do an "Archive & Install" to repair your system files.

Now we're getting somewhere, but where did he get that definition? The source seems to be a 2010 message on the Adobe Reader Bulletin Board. The contributor's email is marked "private" and it's not obvious how to reach him or her.

Thanks, WZZZ, for your helpful suggestion.

Back to my original question -- Where's the list? -- I guess we're all disappointed to learn that none of us knows where some Apple employee keeps it.

--Gil

P.S.-- I just got word back from Mail about my message to Kevin...

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

lenzo@cs.cmu.edu

Ah, well. Guess I'm ready to give up now.

--Gil

Message was edited by: Gil Dawson

Wow! Thanks, Mark. That's really helpful. The answer has been right here on my computer all along!

(Actually, on my Mac running 10.6.8, it's not at the location you cited, but the principle is what matters.)

What if you don't know the framework? Do you have a technique for searching by number (e.g., -1409) to find the framework that contains the corresponding errors.h file? Simply putting "-1409" into the search field of a Finder window doesn't work; it gets "more than 10,000" hits.

How did you do this?

--Gil

WZZZ wrote:

A lot, if not all, the error code lists you may come across are way out of date. Some even for OS9 or earlier.

This is what makes Mark's technique so interesting. Frameworks are filed by OS Version (I think), so, if you get multiple definitions for the same number, you can figure out which one pertains by scrutinizing the paths to where each definition is stored.

Wow! That's great, Mark! Exactly what I was looking for...

Erm, I don't seem to have got the formula right. Here's what it did on my machine, running Terminal on 10.6.8:

h-66:~ gil$ find /System/Library/Frameworks/ -type f -iname "*err*.h" -exec grep -lw "\-1409" {} +

[After a pause of several seconds...]

h-66:~ gil$

I tried making the command a little simpler, to see if it might work, but no...

h-66:~ gil$ find /System/Library/Frameworks/ -type f -iname "*err*.h"

[After a pause of several seconds...]

h-66:~ gil$

I'm not familiar with Unix nor the 'find' command. Perhaps I should research it. ('man find' I suppose?)

Are you running a different MacOS? Perhaps the error.h files are in a different place.

--Gil