A small program can be a great help...

 

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NEWS

 

2006-09-30

DefEcs v. 1.0 released and available for download.

 

 

 

WHAT IS DEFECS

DefEcs (Def stands for Defaults and Ecs denotes X) is a viewer / editor of the settings dabase in Mac OS X. The database (also called the application defaults database) stores configuration information of most of the applications and of the operating system itself. The system itself lacks a convenient editor of the defaults database (there's only a terminal-based utility called defaults) and you may find DefEcs useful from time to time.

 

BROWSE DOMAINS

The settings database in Mac OS X consists of domains. A domain groups the settings of an application or a system component. Therefore, viewing the defaults database as a set of domains seems the most natural way, and that's exactly what DefEcs does. The main window of DefEcs consists of two panels: the left panel presents the list of all domains (tothether with the number of top-level keys for each domain), while the right one shows the contents of the currently selected domain.

 

ADD / REMOVE / EDIT KEYS

A domain consists of a set of keys (entries). There are two types of keys: values and containers. Containers group other keys (both values and another containers), while values contain the data itself. DefEcs provides custom editors for each type of key (text, number, logical, date, binary data) and provides a way to create containers (arrays and dictionaries). The domains in DefEcs are presented in a tree-like form. A container can be unfolded to view it contents or folded back to save space in the window.

 

BACKUP / RESTORE DOMAINS

DefEcs can be used to back up single domains. If an application does not provide a way to undo changes made in its settings, you can back up the application domain before changing the settings and restore the previous state if the changes are not satisfying.

 

BACKUP / RESTORE DATABASE

DefEcs offers the possibility to back up the entire defaults database in an external file. You can back up the settings before applying some risky changes or before installation of a new software and restore them in case of emergency.

 

COMMIT / UNDO CHANGES

Messing with the defaults database can be a risky business. Changing the settings at random, without the knowledge of the possible impact of a particular change, may render the whole system unstable. To prevent some accidental changes from happening, DefEcs offers an extensive undo mechanism. Moreover, changes made to a domain are applied to the system database only after the domain is saved back to the database. All domains containing uncommitted changes are marked on the domain list.

 

OTHER FEATURES

DefEcs has an integrated user manual (the manual in PDF format is also available as a separate download) and the user interface is available in English and Polish (the language of the user interface is chosen automatically, basing on your system locale). The application is a universal binary, i.e. it works on both Intel and PowerPC Macs.

 

FREEWARE

DefEcs is free of charge both for commercial and non-commercial use.