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Sensible macOS Defaults

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Re: Sensible macOS Defaults

#32

Post by aeturnum »

I love that this document takes inscrutable OS X settings and translates them into familiar human-readable settings. I have no idea what "NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode" is, but I understand what "Expand save panel by default" means.

However, like other people, I'm not sure that I agree with this particular set of changes. Is there a project somewhere that packages these options into a GUI? I know a bunch of folks who use OS X who might want to change these things, but they're not programmers and they don't even know shell scripts exist.

Re: Sensible macOS Defaults

#33

Post by bengale »

chrisseaton wrote: post #29
bengale wrote: post #5

I'm not sure I agree with much of these, which makes sense because this is definitely not 'sensible defaults' it is just someones preferred settings. I wouldn't copy this unless you know for sure this is how you want your system configured.

Presumably everyone thinks their own defaults are 'sensible', otherwise they wouldn't be using them. I think the most sensible defaults are those that come out of the box, rather than spending time tweaking things.

> Presumably everyone thinks their own defaults are 'sensible', otherwise they wouldn't be using them.

Maybe, although I set my caps lock up to be escape when tapped and control when held, I don't think that would be sensible for many people at all unless the knew why they wanted it.

> I think the most sensible defaults are those that come out of the box, rather than spending time tweaking things.

This is probably true, I find it very difficult to use anyone else's system since my config is non-standard.

Re: Sensible macOS Defaults

#36

Post by Maursault »

nitpik: I prefer to define the $PATH of every command used in a bash script to prevent some possible shenanigans.

sudo="/usr/bin/sudo"

launhctl="/bin/launchctl"

scutil="/usr/sbin/scutil"

nvram="/usr/sbin/nvram"

defaults="/usr/bin/defaults"

et cetera

Re: Sensible macOS Defaults

#37

Post by cush »

bengale wrote: post #5

I'm not sure I agree with much of these, which makes sense because this is definitely not 'sensible defaults' it is just someones preferred settings. I wouldn't copy this unless you know for sure this is how you want your system configured.

Exactly. Whoever wrote this is a minimalist. I want a hot pink animated focus indicator. I feel like I'm a sensible person, but after reading this script... I just don't know anymore.

Re: Sensible macOS Defaults

#38

Post by gugagore »

I have not found a way to script the `Keyboard Preferences -> Input Sources` settings. I even versioned (in git) a ton of the `.plist` (property list) files in `~/Library/Preferences/` (they are binary files, but one can use `plutil` to get a textual XML representation). I think I arrived at the conclusion that these settings are persisted on a global / system level, and that there was basically no solution. I would be happy to be proven wrong!

When I was starting from scratch with macOS a few months ago, I had that sense of fresh new beginning. I wanted to have all of the configuration scriptable and versioned. Unfortunately those preferences files also include a bunch of timestamps and dates and window locations, so it ends up being not a great idea.

Re: Sensible macOS Defaults

#39

Post by johnvaluk »

dsXLII wrote: post #31

Sorry, soon as I saw the line that disables the startup chime I knew everything here was wrong.

Can you elaborate? I despise the startup chime and disable it on all of my Macs. Why should they announce a startup when none of my other devices do? Why would I want to wake a sleeping baby or annoy other library patrons? This is one of the most obnoxious decisions Apple ever forced on its users (and, yes, I was happy when the illuminated logo on the laptop lid was finally put to rest).
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