Out! Out, I Say!

[kozikowski]

This is a picture of the "About" panel for Audacity 1.2.4 on my Mac.

Picture 1.png (63.84 KiB) Viewed 885 times

The freaky part about this is I don't have Audacity 1.2.4 on my Mac.

D'Oh!

The program isn't in the /Applications list and I no longer have the installer for it. The only way I can get it to launch is to select an existing AUP file and Open With. Two Audacity versions are presented; 1.3.12 and 1.2.4. 1.2.4 errors out with a Wrong Version message, and then opens for use.

I had a similar problem with my other Mac when I was doing a patch evaluation and the "wrong" Audacity opened and I didn't catch it.

???!!!???

Koz

[kozikowski]

I think I found it. There's something called a "backup_install." It's buried layers deep in an archive system and it's apparently still active, or alive enough to run. No, it's not remotely in /Applications.

Is this something Audacity 1.2 used to do in days gone by?

Koz

[Gale Andrews]

Remove 1.2.4 from the open with list? Perhaps search for *udacity.app (which allows for "Audacity.app" and "audacity.app") in case there are any others lurking?




Gale

[kozikowski]

<<<Perhaps search for *udacity.app >>>

I think Mac Search ignores case since that's what most people want. That's how I found the install down in the backup folders. I suspect I would get the case sensitivity back if I used the UNIX shell.


============================================
FIND(1) BSD General Commands Manual FIND(1)
NAME
find -- walk a file hierarchy
SYNOPSIS
find [-H | -L | -P] [-EXdsx] [-f pathname] pathname ... expression
find [-H | -L | -P] [-EXdsx] -f pathname [pathname ...] expression
DESCRIPTION
The find utility recursively descends the directory tree for each pathname listed, evaluating an expression (composed of the ``primaries'' and ``operands'' listed below) in terms of each file in the tree.
============================================


OK, so maybe that's not quite as warm and fuzzy.....

I used to have a 1.2.4 install. So Audacity didn't create that backup install? I wonder if I triggered a Mac backup or tool nobody knows about.

Koz

[Gale Andrews]

I used to have a 1.2.4 install. So Audacity didn't create that backup install? I wonder if I triggered a Mac backup or tool nobody knows about.

I don't think the .dmg installers have ever provided any kind of back-up (and if they did, it hasn't been removed). Maybe the backup was a free gift when you used Time Machine?



Gale

[kozikowski]

<<<Maybe the backup was a free gift when you used Time Machine?>>>

I think Time Machine's claim to fame is that it doesn't change anything. It flips from state to state exactly like it was. That's exactly the graphic metaphor they use -- twice. The backup icon is a tiny clock going backwards and recovery is calendar pages flipping.

I think I may be able to piece this together.

First, I never used Projects, so I would never have known about the second Audacity from Open With....

Way early on, I used to move the whole /Applications/Audacity folder to a safe location (but not the trash) and put a newer Audacity in for testing. When I got to 1.3.7, I stopped swapping for a while, but I kept the old 1.2.4 application folder on a digital dusty shelf. We are told that the /Applications folder is a convention, you don't have to put applications in there. At one time, OS-X would have found itself with two different 1.2.x installs on the same machine -- both valid. I wouldn't be shocked to find that it created a backup folder to keep peace in the family.

So Audacity 1.2.4 was lying under a thick coat of ancient dust with its heart barely beating, waiting for me to summon it to terrifying, dripping, gory life by.....

Sorry. I triggered both installs with my project -- one of the few new projects ever. I only found one other Audacity. I'm going through with a broom.

Koz