Look up macOS system binaries

45•tolerance•3d ago

Comments

evolve2k•8h ago

Pretty cool tool, I used it to lookup system ruby.

Younger me loved that Apple used Ruby and that Ruby was “pre installed” on the Mac.

This of course was because macOS relies on Ruby for certain things. However as a more experienced dev, the system Ruby (which is almost always very outdated), really gets in the way especially for beginners.

Anyone have more background on system Ruby and why it’s in macOS?

lloeki•4h ago

Back then macOS as a platform was quite polyglot with multiple scripting languages and bindings/bridges to ObjC. Being an OOTB dev box was a feature, notably with Web 2.0, and there was Rails right there as well as Apache too, and a thing called Mac OS X Server. IIRC they even had Java in there, with WebObjects, until the Oracle debacle.

Today on Tahoe, this is what remains:

    $ uname -sr
    Darwin 25.0.0
    $ /usr/bin/ruby --version
    ruby 2.6.10p210 (2022-04-12 revision 67958) [universal.arm64e-darwin25]
    $ /usr/bin/bundle --version
    Bundler version 1.17.2
    $ /usr/bin/gem --version
    3.0.3.1
    $ /usr/bin/rails 
    Rails is not currently installed on this system. To get the latest version, simply type:
    
        $ sudo gem install rails

    You can then rerun your "rails" command.

    $ perl -v
    This is perl 5, version 34, subversion 1 (v5.34.1) built for darwin-thread-multi-2level
    (with 2 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)

    $ python3 --version
    Python 3.9.6

One can note the irony of the most up to date of those being Perl, probably a testament to its insane backwards compatibility.

WesolyKubeczek•3m ago

The most insane thing of them all insane things is that that Perl ships with DBIx::Class — in /System/Library/Perl/5.34, no less!

I'm wondering what in the world is the system using DBIx::Class for.

qalmakka•3h ago

> the system Ruby (which is almost always very outdated), really gets in the way

This also applies to Perl and especially Python. While relying on system Perl is bad but not terrible (Perl is very backward compatible, has good versioning of features, ...), I always have to fight against Mac users that keep using the outdated system Python instead of pulling a new one from Brew. Don't use the system interpreters folks! This is not Linux

WesolyKubeczek•6m ago

The advice applies to Linux, too. The interpreter that "comes with the system" is usually there to accommodate other software within the distribution that is powered by that interpreter, and it's not guaranteed to stay where it is as you like it, or update when you want it updated, because there might be an application keeping it from getting updated.

ysleepy•6h ago

I'd love to see some deeper automated analysis.

For example the XPC endpoints the binary offers and a list of other binaries which reference those.

Maybe the launch modalities, system vs. User session, which paths it reads/writes.

Not sure if all of those things can be staically determined by some tooling, but it would be really helpful.

burnt-resistor•5h ago

Basically, links to virustotal and results of running in their sandboxes.

burnt-resistor•4h ago

It seems to work for most stuff in /usr/{,s}bin /{,s}bin /usr/libexec but not all of /System/Library just yet.

Automator Installer -> /System/Library/CoreServices/Automator Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator Installer

"There is no exact information for this binary file."

webdavfs_agent -> /System/Library/Extensions/webdav_fs.kext/Contents/Resources/webdavfs_agent

"The webdavfs_agent binary is unknown"

latexr•3h ago

Looks pretty much abandoned. First thing I looked for was jq (added in Sequoia) but it isn’t there. Then I looked at the repo. All commit activity was during the same week, three years ago. A couple issues opened, with no progress.

qalmakka•3h ago

One thing that always grinds my gears is how the macOS filesystem is a hodgepodge of stuff thrown around without any apparent logic (similarly to Windows), which is in stark contrast to the also apparently illogical but standardised hierarchy of Linux and the BSDs. I do understand their need to keep the /System directory around for the Classic days, but /usr? /sbin? The only "fixed" file should be /usr/bin/env, all the rest should be in /System. The mix of classic UNIX directories and Classic is annoying

curt15•41m ago

On the other hand, their /Applications directory is genius. No need for databases to track which files belong to which application. Everything belonging to an application resides in its subdirectory of /Applications. Installing and removing software becomes incredibly simple.

WesolyKubeczek•9m ago

Except stuff in /Library/Application Support. Oh, and /Library/Extensions. Oh, and /Library/DriverExtensions. Oh, and /Library/LaunchAgents. And /Library/LaunchDaemons. Also /Library/Perl (this is Apple-provided) and /Library/TeX (this is not, this is MacTeX). And /Library/Developer.

Also, the dread of "removal instructions" that include stuff like "go through these directories and delete things that look like they belong to this software".

Igrom•32m ago

Would it be possible to list all binaries alphabetically on one page?

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Look up macOS system binaries

Comments

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