[OS X TeX] Lost in Mac space

[Joseph C. Slater PE, PhD]

On Dec 13, 2008, at 12:18 PM, Alain Schremmer wrote:

>
> On Dec 13, 2008, at 11:21 AM, David Derbes wrote:
>
>> It's Unix. Nothing about Mac OS X that I know about. The version I  
>> know best is from 1993, and so absent time travel cannot include  
>> anything about Mac OS X. There is a way more expensive recent  
>> version that might include something, but I'd buy a cheap copy from  
>> abebooks (just bought one to make up for the one a friend stole,  
>> and yes, he's still a friend) for well under ten USD.
>
> Whenever I think of fiddling with the terminal—after all that is the  
> Mac way, the thing that brings me to a halt is the fear that it is  
> easy inadvertently to wipe out one's disk or to create similar  
> havoc. So, it is easy to procrastinate and/or turn to the list.  
> Which it is in any case.
>
>

Unlikely unless you enter your administrator password to execute the  
command. Further, if you "back up now" using Time machine before doing  
anything, you can always rewind to that spot.

The worst you can do, without entering a password at the command line,  
is wipe out your personal directory. However, if you use Time Machine,  
that is easily restored.