This type of thing is usually done interactively, but when I’m piping output that doesn’t work. So here’s a quick one-liner in bash for pulling the TeamID and BundleID from kexts out of the KextPolicy sqlite database: sqlite3 /var/db/SystemPolicyConfiguration/KextPolicy "SELECT * from kext_policy;" ".exit"
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Mapping New SQLite Databases
I’ve written about SQLite databases here and there over the years. A number of Apple tools and third party tools for the platform run on SQLite and it’s usually a pretty straight forward process to get into a database and inspect what’s there and how you might programmatically interact with tools that store data in SQLite. And I’ll frequently use a tool like Navicat to quickly and visually hop in and look at what happens when I edit data that then gets committed to the database. But I don’t always have tools like that around. So when I want to inspect new databases, or at least those new to me,…
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The New Caching Service In OS X Server
These days, new services get introduced in OS X Server during point releases. OS X now has a Software Caching server built to make updates faster. This doesn’t replace Apple’s Software Update Server mind you, it supplements. And, it’s very cool technology. “What makes it so cool” you might ask, given that Software Update Server has been around for awhile. Namely, the way that clients perform software update service location and distribution with absolutely no need (or ability) for centralized administration. Let’s say that you have 200 users with Mac Minis and an update is released. That’s 200 of the same update those devices are going to download over your…
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Scripting Launchpad
LaunchPad is the OS X Lion version of the old Launcher, or the iOS home screen, according to how you look at these things. A few notes on issues I’ve seen with LaunchPad. First, I’ve had to nuke LaunchPad and have it rebuild. To do so, delete the database. rm ~/Library/Application Support/Dock/*.db You might also need to kill the dock: killall Dock In a deployment scenario, I’ve started doing both as post flight tasks. Getting to the point where you’re granularly adding and removing items is done by editing the .db file in ~/Library/Application Support/Dock. In here is a generatedID followed by .db that makes up a SQLite database. This database…
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Finding iOS Device PINs
Each time you sync an iOS based device, a backup is made (unless you disable the option). These are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Here you will find a number of folders, each beginning with the UDID of the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch that has been backed up. The contents of these folders can be used to restore a device in the event that the device falls outside your control. Within the folders are a bunch of files with alphanumeric names that look garbled, even though some can be viewed using a standard text or property list editor (while others are binary). But there are also a bunch of other…