In trying to delete a file, using Terminal (10.11.5) & command sudo -v, my password brings this up: srm: unable to stat com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
Totally unsure of the meaning. Appreciate help.
natsea
MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11)
SeeNat wrote:
In trying to delete a file, using Terminal (10.11.5) & command sudo -v, my password brings this up: srm: unable to stat com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
If trying to delete a file why the
sudo -v
from the man page:
| -v | When given the -v (validate) option, sudo will update the |
| user's time stamp file, authenticating the user's password | |
| if necessary. This extends the sudo timeout for another 5 | |
| minutes (or whatever the timeout is set to in sudoers) but | |
| does not run a command. |
Using terminal to delete files can be a very dangerous move if not well versed and cautious.
You can read more on the rm command:
man rm | more
Thanks so much for the reply, and especially the cautionary advice. What seems like a simple need to permanently trash a file has turned insoluble— for me. All tries to eliminate it appear to work but a restart shows it’s back again. This is the string if useful in you offering a thought:
Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDo cuments/com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
SeeNat wrote:
Thanks so much for the reply, and especially the cautionary advice. What seems like a simple need to permanently trash a file has turned insoluble— for me. All tries to eliminate it appear to work but a restart shows it’s back again. This is the string if useful in you offering a thought:
Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDo cuments/com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
The path as you have written is incomplete, it needs the "/" prefix—unless you meant the user Library in which case, "~/":
/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDo cuments/com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
Maybe you would be better off stating what file you are trying to delete, and where did it come from, internal Disk, external disk—and are the Disk still mounted?
Are you trying to delete this file: com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl ???
Did you run ccleaner uninstall package???
Indeed, the answer is yes. (Are you trying to delete this file: com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl ???)
The uninstall was run several days ago, part of a purge of several other potentially troublesome apps, but this file lingers—no matter what.
The string I posted is what EasyFind uncovered as the only remaining ‘ccleaner’ file and this is the string (early paste may have omitted a “ . ”:
My search: com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
Found: ./Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDo cuments/com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
What happens if you were to Empty and recreate your account's Trash in one go.
From your user account ~/ (must be Admin of course) copy and paste:
sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash
(please note password does not echo)
Apologies up front for prolonging this, but being far from skilled in these things, please help me fully understand the process.
Do I:
1. put the file com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl in Trash & empty
2. then in Terminal, copy/paste your suggested string (sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash
(not positive of the meaning of “password does not echo”... in other words, does not appear on screen?)
Sorry to be gun-shy but your earlier advice about Terminal and it being a risk to we the untutored was taken to heart.
SeeNat wrote:
Apologies up front for prolonging this, but being far from skilled in these things, please help me fully understand the process.
Do I:
1. put the file com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl in Trash & empty
2. then in Terminal, copy/paste your suggested string (sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash
(not positive of the meaning of “password does not echo”... in other words, does not appear on screen?)
Sorry to be gun-shy but your earlier advice about Terminal and it being a risk to we the untutored was taken to heart.
Yes to all of the above, but let me ask you this. Assuming this is your own personal computer in front of you, why not just highlight the file within the directory where it sits and hit the delete key? Why are you attempting using the terminal??
Yes, it’s just my home MacBook Pro and the Terminal idea was offered by several folks including some from Apple support groups, only after the delete and empty trash approach was tried multiple times. The madness of the whole thing is simply that the file keeps re-appearing after a restart, just as if a delete had never been done. It’s a persistent bugger to say the least.
Thanks for the clarification.
I am surprised deleting the ~/.Trash directory was not already mentioned , by we will see if it works for you.
And the more I think about it most likely caused by the new SIP
About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support
A little disheartening since SIP should allow write to, I would only hope you would also have R/W privileges but maybe not.
Paths and applications that third-party apps and installers can write to include:
If this is true then our work is not done here.
In all honesty I suspect that file does no harm just sitting there quietly in the Application Support.
Report back
On further inspection I have been mislead, your file is located here,
~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/
not in a Systems/Library i.e. /Library therefore SIP would be of no concern.
Well, your thought of just letting it sit, since it causes no harm, appears our best course. Found your latest reply after trashing, doing the Term. thing and restarting. The file is still there... persistence personified. Still in the same spot:
/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDo cuments/com.piriform.ccleaner.sfl
So, many thanks for the generous amount of your time on this. Perhaps the whole exercise will be helpful to others trying to rid themselves of this thing.
Best regards...
Terminal reply
