Hi all, Mike asked in another post:
MA: I'm not sure why, but I've also noticed that some times the welcome message is not spoken. Everything works fine though, so I haven't thought about it much. I've never had my mac on at 3 in the morning, so I guess those scripts have never run, just curious, what do those do? I haven't had any problems though. I'm answering in this post, since it has the information on how to run the scripts manually. To read more about the maintenance tasks that get done, see this page on "Running Mac OS X Maintenance Scripts": http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/maintscripts.html Here's an excerpt (read the linked page for more info): <begin excerpt> The maintenance performed by the scripts Each maintenance script — daily, weekly, and monthly — has a specific function. • The daily script removes old log files, "scratch" and "junk" files, backs-up the NetInfo database, reports a variety of system and network statistics, and rotates the system.log file. Under Tiger, the daily script also cleans up scratch fax files and prunes asl.log, the log for the new Apple System Logging facility. The output from the daily script is written to the /var/log/daily.out file, which can be viewed in Console. By default, the daily script is scheduled to run daily at 03:15 hours local time. • The weekly script rebuilds the locate and whatis databases and rotates — depending on the version of Mac OS X you are using — the following log files: ftp.log, lookupd.log, lpr.log, mail.log, netinfo.log, ipfw.log, ppp.log, and secure.log The output from the weekly script is written to the /var/log/weekly.out file, which can be viewed in Console. By default, the weekly script is scheduled to run every Saturday at the following times: Under Tiger: 03:15 hours local time. Under Panther and Jaguar: 04:30 hours local time. • The monthly script reports per-user usage accounting and rotates — depending on the version of Mac OS X you are using — the wtmp, install.log, and cu.modem.log files. The output from the monthly script is written to the /var/log/monthly.out file, which can be viewed in Console. By default, the monthly script is scheduled to run on the first of the month at 05:30 hours local time. <end excerpt> I should also add that I mis-typed the entry for which task typically took longest to run -- it's always been "sudo periodic weekly" (not "monthly", as I typed) that has taken the longest for me. Cheers, Esther On June 20, 2008, at 02:43PM, David Poehlman wrote: >they always run automatically. you can change them by editting the plists. > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Orin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by >theblind" <[email protected]> >Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 6:41 PM >Subject: Re: Maintenance tasks that run on the Mac [was Re: something odd >whenstarting up the mac.] > > >How do you make them run automaticly, run them by hand the first time >and they'll run at a set time after that? >On Jun 20, 2008, at 5:40 PM, Esther wrote: > >> Hi Scott, >> >> As many people have said, there's nothing wrong with skipping the >> maintenance scripts, but if you really want to run them by hand, start >> up a terminal session (from Finder, Command-Shift-U to the utilities >> folder, type "T" to go to terminal, VO-keys-space to select), then >> type "sudo periodic daily" without the quotation marks, and enter. >> You'll be prompted for a password -- you need to do this from an >> account with Administrator's privilege. >> >> There are 3 commands in all: >> >> sudo periodic daily >> sudo periodic weekly >> sudo periodic monthly >> >> and you can issue any of these you like. (You only need to enter >> a password after your first sudo command. For linux users, "sudo" >> is Mac's counterpart to the "su" command for switching to superusers.) >> These run very fast; usually it's only the monthly task that takes a >> little while. You could pull up the Activity Monitor, which is >> another >> item in the Utility folder, and bring up its main window (Command-1) >> to view what is happening after you issue one of the commands >> from the terminal. >> >> The daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance tasks are scheduled >> by the launch daemon. The times are set in files called: >> >> com.apple.daily.plist >> com.apple.weekly.plist >> com.apple.monthly.plist >> >> so it should be possible to modify the default run times, but you'd >> need someone who is running Leopard to take a look at the files. >> >> HTH >> Cheers, >> >> Esther >> >>> nothing bad will happen to your Mac if the scripts don't run. I >>> too have >>> the issue of not hearing the welcome message. >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Scott Rutkowski" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> To: <[email protected]> >>> Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 8:15 AM >>> Subject: something odd when starting up the mac. >>> >>> >>> HI again all. >>> >>> Just wondering if anyone else has come across this issue? >>> >>> Sometimes when I turn on my mac and let it start up, I don't hear the >>> welcome to mackintosh message sometimes when I boot up the mac. >>> Normally my mac boots to the desktop and most times it says welcome >>> to >>> mackintosh voice over is running finder macintosh hd. >>> Is there a reason why sometimes the mac boots and nothing is >>> spoken? Then >>> when I use the arrow keys everything speaks fine? >>> I've run repair disk permissions in disk utilities. >>> One other question, is there a way of changing the maintenance >>> scripts that >>> run at 3 am to another time? >>> I don't like leaving my mac on all night and i'm wondering if >>> there's a way >>> of telling the scripts to either run manually or run at a time when >>> i'm >>> awake? >>> I'm concerned if these scripts don't run, something bad may happen >>> to my >>> mac. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> > > > > > > >
