After my last update of OS X 10.8.5 my terminals were flooded with above message – like twenty-ish lines when I started and up to six times after each console command I issued, making it impossible to work with the console anymore.
The error message also told me to run update_dyld_shared_cache and restart my machine. That’s what I wanted to do, but when I issued the command this is what my computer presented me with:
pygospa@lalaith ~ % update_dyld_shared_cache update_dyld_shared_cache failed: you must be root to run this tool
So I switched to my administrator account which who is in sudoers and typed in the command again:
eru@lalaith ~ % sudo update_dyld_shared_cache update_dyld_shared_cache: for arch i386, can't put /usr/lib/libtidy.A.dylib in shared cache because it is not owned by root update_dyld_shared_cache: for arch i386, can't put /usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib in shared cache because it is not owned by root update_dyld_shared_cache: for arch i386, can't put /usr/lib/libutil.dylib in (...)
There where at least 50 of those lines, and as it seemed nothing had been done, so I checked the permissions and as it turned out, all files in /usr where in possession of root except for /usr/lib, which belonged to the administrator. Huh, that’s strange. Anyway, let’s run it with the rights of the administrator then:
pygospa@lalaith ~ % update_dyld_shared_cache update_dyld_shared_cache failed: you must be root to run this tool
Okay, I actually don’t like changing owners on a Mac, as it might break something, so my first try was to just make the files writeable for everyone. So I switched to /usr/lib, entered a chmod 777 * and got a bunch of permission denied responses:
eru@lalaith /usr/lib % chmod 777 * chmod: Unable to change file mode on cron: Operation not permitted chmod: Unable to change file mode on libCoreStorage.dylib: Operation not permitted chmod: Unable to change file mode on libIOKit.A.dylib: Operation not permitted (...)
Coming from Linux this is really strange, as eru was in possession of all those files… I tried making the directory writeable for everyone – with the same effect. Okay, let’s switch to root – root can do anything.
You’d think…
root@lalaith # l /usr/lib drwxr-xr-x 316 eru wheel 10744 15 Sep 18:33 lib/ root@lalaith # chown root /usr/lib chown: /usr/lib: Operation not permitted
Okay. Now I was really puzzled. What the frack is up with this strange behaviour? I did, what any good Windows User does, when he encounters a problem. I rebooted. Same old, same old. Next stop: Google-Town.
Tried sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force and sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -root / -force, sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -verify
(…)If you suspect the shared cache is somehow corrupt, you can run: sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -verify which re-creates the cache and compares the result with your actual cache file.
and a bunch of other stuff. Nope. Okay, Apple Support Communities, hosted under discussions.apple.com – sometimes they have pretty good answers. And yep, there was someone with the same problem, and there was an answer marked as “solving my questions”, and it was short, and it just said… what?!
You have a missing or damaged system file. Back up all your data, then boot from your installation DVD and reinstall the OS. Your data will be undisturbed. After rebooting, run Software Update to bring everything up to date. You may have to run it more than once.
You’re kidding. I don’t have time for this, seriously! Fracking Mac, fracking Apple, to hell with this load of crap! I was really angry.
Fortunately I don’t follow instructions straight away, and after a lot of head aching googling and cursing the day, I came across Safe Mode.
Starting up into Save Mode does several things:
- (…)
- Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later: A Safe Boot deletes the dynamic loader shared cache at (/var/db/dyld/). A cache with issues may cause a blue screen on startup, particularly after a Software Update. Restarting normally recreates this cache.
- (…)
Sounds related – and yeah, it solved my problem! Starting into Save Mode is pretty easy: Power down, hold the “Shift”-Key, Power – and keep holding the “Shift”-Key for quite a while – untill the Apple logo appears.
It’ll then take a while – at least on a recent, souped-up Macbook Air it was enough time to brew a new cup of coffee. But it actually came up, I logged in, and: Hey! In Safe Mode the annoying message is gone! Reboot, and yeah, in Normal Mode everything’s back to normal.
~ PygoscelisPapua | Profession~ 