Friday, August 29, 2008

Terminal.app disappears - Charlessoft to the rescue

I just noticed that the Terminal.app disappeared from my OS x Leopard installation! Oh No! And this just as I was switching backup solution! (Damn). I googled, and found reports that claim that doing "something funny" like accidentally dragging Terminal out of the dock can cause it not only to be removed from the dock, but from Utilities as well ! HORROR !!

Well, I don't want to restore my entire machine - some 100 GB of stuff, and wondered if there was a way to select just Terminal.app from the installation CDs. And it turns out there is a free/shareware called Pacifist from Charlessoft that can pick individual files from .pkg files. Decided to give it a try.

I downloaded and installed the Pacifist package without problems, and started it up. It asks for a 20$ donation/fee to get rid of the nag that otherwise appears each time it is started, which I will donate if it helps me fix my problems ;)

There is an option in Pacifist to open Apple install disks which I used. After inserting install disk 1 and 2 a couple of times, a browser appeared with all of the packages. Used search to locate Terminal, a right click over the package said "Install to Default Location..." which I did, and it restored Terminal.app. The app data was apparently intact, because all my previously used locations where remembered.

Thanks Charlessoft, a check for 20$ is in the mail :)

Blush - I found the missing Terminal - it was a tiny icon on the desktop hidden behind the dock! f this is not what Pacifist did when it installed the new copy then I must have managed to drag it out of the dock and dropped it there, causing it to disappear. Searching for it did not help though...

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