What are the Installer Receipts for?

Question

Level 2

165 points

What are the Installer Receipts for?

Hello!

Well, while in the process of trashing safari's preference file the other day (it was crashing - all fixed), I went into the wrong library folder - that is, the Library folder on "Macintosh HD", and not my user folder. In any case, I stumbled upon the /Library/Reciepts folder - which contains 200 installer packages, for almost 260 meg!

My question is this: They seem to contain the EULAs, and installer, but not the data to install - so they won't work. Therefore, do I need to keep them around on my internal drive? I was going to archive them and store them on an external drive (or CD).

Also: If I was to insert the corresponding disc for these installers, would they be able to re-istall software correctly? My point is that in the past, I've had some OS X software (iChat AV) that didn't work - and needed a re-install. This usually means using the install DVD - except that you can't install built in apps like iChat without the system itself. I eventually used Pacifist to install just iChat, and it worked fine. Would using one of these installer packages have that effect? (whether on the system disc or something else)

Thanks,

Dan

15" 1.67 Powerbook G4 (non-HiRes), Slot loading iMac DV SE Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Aug 18, 2006 10:11 AM

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Answer 1

W.J. Llope

Level 4

3,270 points

Aug 18, 2006 10:21 AM in response to Daniel W

hi Daniel,

keep them there. Disk Utility needs these receipts to be there when it tries to repair permissions...

you could at least remove the ones for apps that are no longer installed on your machine....

cheers

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Answer 2

Aug 18, 2006 10:24 AM in response to Daniel W

Hi Daniel;

In addition to W J Llope said, I believe that this Software Update also looks at them to figure out what software you have installed. So removing them can cause problems with Software Updater.

Allan

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Answer 3

Aug 18, 2006 10:25 AM in response to Daniel W

The receipts keep a record of files installed. System Update can look at them to see what updates are needed. Disk Utility uses them to determine correct file permissions. Don't delete them. If a quarter Gigabyte would make that much difference on your disk, you need a much bigger drive.

If for some reason you need to reinstall an update, deleting the receipt for the previous try may help.

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Answer 4

Daniel W Author

Level 2

165 points

Aug 19, 2006 11:17 AM in response to Daniel W

Hello!

Thanks for the quick answers - that makes a lot of sense.

That's a good idea about deleting the reciept for a reinstall, too.

I know that 260 meg isn't all that much, but I figure I might as well delete what I don't need. I just installed The Sims 2, and it takes 3.5 Gig!

I currently have 17 gig internally, but I seem to drop another 150 meg of photos each week onto it... and I already have 7 G of photos. Funny, the iPhoto Library folder takes over 9 gig - the nondestructive editing feature can hog a lot of space!

Unfortunately, a larger notebook drive is out of the question for the moment - they're just too expensive. I'd like to have a 120-160G drive, but that'll have to wait until I get some more money.

Hmmmm..... can you store the iPhoto library on an external HDD? Guess I'll post that on the iPhoto forum.

Thanks,

Dan

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Answer 5

Aug 19, 2006 1:25 PM in response to Daniel W

Hi Daniel;

I have my iPhoto library on an external disk for exactly that reason. I find it actually works better have my photos there then it does when they were on the internal drive with the system.

Allan

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