4 ms·

There was nothing wrong with your factory install. As I said in a previous reply, gnutar is installed as part of Apple's Xcode Tools. It is not included by defa

by eb 19y ago

There was nothing wrong with your factory install. As I said in a previous reply, gnutar is installed as part of Apple's Xcode Tools. It is not included by default. There is no reason to format every factory-new machine that you receive. That's just paranoia. These incidents have been relatively rare.

ericb 19y ago
And as I said in that post, I already had the Xcode Tools installed. In fact, based on your advice, I reinstalled the Xcode Tools to be sure. You're telling me that plain old tar should be missing, by default, on an OS X machine? I ended up taking tar and gnutar from a buddy's machine who did not have Xcode Tools installed. He's not a developer--he doesn't know what xcode is! He had both files from a clean install of his shiny new Leopard install disk. It's not paranoia. You trust strangers in China? What's the downside to reinstalling? Maybe an hour? The upside is reduced risk of someone emptying out your bank account. For these factory workers, the contents of one US bank account might be 5-10 years pay. If you think this is paranoia, hope you don't manage any security functions. I think it's just being safe.
- eb 19y ago
  If you installed Xcode Tools/Developer Tools, then you have a copy of gnutar. Mac OS X, like other BSD systems, include their own version of userland tools in the base system. If you want the GNU version of specific tools, you have to install it separately. That's why gnutar is in MacPorts and that's why, if you extract the Developer Tools package, you'll find gnutar. It's not there by default. I find your claim that somehow your factory install is incomplete very unlikely. Your factory-new laptop is missing these specific files yet everything else operates normally? No.
  - ericb 19y ago
    Forget gnutar, let's talk about tar which was also missing. Can you show me that tar should be missing from a new os x install and is installed only with xcode tools? The problem is, if you could, that still wouldn't explain things, but I can tell you're dying to be right. Unlikely stuff happens, just less often. I appreciate that you were trying to be helpful and to you I'm just "random internet guy" but I'm being honest, I already fixed the problem, and it was as I am stating. Telling someone staring at a blue moon that "that's unlikely" is just going to piss them off. You've squandered the goodwill and karma your original helpful comment in the other thread merited. This conversation has nothing to do with xcode anymore, but a lot to do with tool. Can we stop the "it works on my machine" BS now and move on?
- eb 19y ago
  It's foolish to live your life in fear, checking every meal you eat for poison. There are many things that require a leap of faith. Where's your tinfoil hat? These incidents mentioned in the article have been very rare. They did a pretty good job of scaring you. When a multinational conspiracy to steal your identity does occur, you'll be covered by your bank's insurance.
  - ericb 19y ago
    You mistake an easy risk management technique for paranoia. I leave it to you test the "bank insurance protects you from identity theft" plan. I invite you to try that out--these experiments usually go well: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm
    - eb 19y ago
      Reformatting is not an "easy risk management technique." It's completely inaccessible to most people. I don't understand the point you're trying to make with that article. Clarkson published his account details and challenged people to exploit it. If you gave the keys to your home to a burglar, what would you expect? The article does not say he was unable to recover his funds. There must be dozens of ways for someone to steal your financial information. If you truly want to be safe, you should start by burning your trash, always pay in cash, and never hire an accountant to do your taxes. You never know where there's a leak. It's not practical to exercise this level of caution. Just live your life. Credit cards offer 0% liability against fraud and banks have the FDIC and private insurance for these types of situations.
      - ericb 19y ago
        I think reformatting with the install disks when you first get a new machine is easy. You disagree. Why don't we agree to disagree and leave this thread behind.

by eb 19y ago

ericb 19y ago

And as I said in that post, I already had the Xcode Tools installed. In fact, based on your advice, I reinstalled the Xcode Tools to be sure. You're telling me that plain old tar should be missing, by default, on an OS X machine? I ended up taking tar and gnutar from a buddy's machine who did not have Xcode Tools installed. He's not a developer--he doesn't know what xcode is! He had both files from a clean install of his shiny new Leopard install disk. It's not paranoia. You trust strangers in China? What's the downside to reinstalling? Maybe an hour? The upside is reduced risk of someone emptying out your bank account. For these factory workers, the contents of one US bank account might be 5-10 years pay. If you think this is paranoia, hope you don't manage any security functions. I think it's just being safe.

eb 19y ago
If you installed Xcode Tools/Developer Tools, then you have a copy of gnutar. Mac OS X, like other BSD systems, include their own version of userland tools in the base system. If you want the GNU version of specific tools, you have to install it separately. That's why gnutar is in MacPorts and that's why, if you extract the Developer Tools package, you'll find gnutar. It's not there by default. I find your claim that somehow your factory install is incomplete very unlikely. Your factory-new laptop is missing these specific files yet everything else operates normally? No.
- ericb 19y ago
  Forget gnutar, let's talk about tar which was also missing. Can you show me that tar should be missing from a new os x install and is installed only with xcode tools? The problem is, if you could, that still wouldn't explain things, but I can tell you're dying to be right. Unlikely stuff happens, just less often. I appreciate that you were trying to be helpful and to you I'm just "random internet guy" but I'm being honest, I already fixed the problem, and it was as I am stating. Telling someone staring at a blue moon that "that's unlikely" is just going to piss them off. You've squandered the goodwill and karma your original helpful comment in the other thread merited. This conversation has nothing to do with xcode anymore, but a lot to do with tool. Can we stop the "it works on my machine" BS now and move on?
eb 19y ago
It's foolish to live your life in fear, checking every meal you eat for poison. There are many things that require a leap of faith. Where's your tinfoil hat? These incidents mentioned in the article have been very rare. They did a pretty good job of scaring you. When a multinational conspiracy to steal your identity does occur, you'll be covered by your bank's insurance.
- ericb 19y ago
  You mistake an easy risk management technique for paranoia. I leave it to you test the "bank insurance protects you from identity theft" plan. I invite you to try that out--these experiments usually go well: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm
  - eb 19y ago
    Reformatting is not an "easy risk management technique." It's completely inaccessible to most people. I don't understand the point you're trying to make with that article. Clarkson published his account details and challenged people to exploit it. If you gave the keys to your home to a burglar, what would you expect? The article does not say he was unable to recover his funds. There must be dozens of ways for someone to steal your financial information. If you truly want to be safe, you should start by burning your trash, always pay in cash, and never hire an accountant to do your taxes. You never know where there's a leak. It's not practical to exercise this level of caution. Just live your life. Credit cards offer 0% liability against fraud and banks have the FDIC and private insurance for these types of situations.
    - ericb 19y ago
      I think reformatting with the install disks when you first get a new machine is easy. You disagree. Why don't we agree to disagree and leave this thread behind.