[OS X TeX] Re: MacOSX-TeX Digest, Vol 63, Issue 8: hidden files

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 16.01.2013 um 17:58 schrieb Leslie Morland (MTH):

>> I tried mkdir texmf in ~Library, and told permission denied
> 
> I tried after sudo, asked for password, but keyboard dead; could not type
> anywhere in Terminal

Leslie, syntax plays in communication with computers a bigger role than in communication with humans. The latter ones can sometimes be intelligent, so they can forgive. In UNIX the character "~" has more than one meaning. When it it stands alone or left from a comment character ("#") or a command separator character (";"), then it is the abbreviation (short-cut) for this logged-in user's home directory. When it stands left from a slash character ("/"), then it starts as a "relative path assignment" starting at this logged-in user's home directory. When you find right from the tilde character any character that is an allowed component of a path or file name specification (usually letters and digits plus a few more), than the compound of ~ and name represents the home directory of the user "name".

So, ~/Library is the "Library" file or directory inside your home directory, and ~Library is the home directory of the user "Library" (who can have a "Library" folder there, which is ~Library/Library).

> 
> I think set-up on replaced hard disk may be cause, but would appreciate
> any suggestions to restore sense.

This is an a bit cheap excuse. With Migration Assistant, using a TimeMachine backup, everything is restored – even extra fonts in /Library/Fonts and all my TeX stuff, including that in /usr/local/texlive. (I had to perform that job today again because the built-in disk of my PowerBook started die this year and needed a replacement – after almost nine years.)

--
Greetings

  Pete

There's no place like ~
			– (UNIX Guru)