Cocktail

Cocktail 3.5.4 (Panther Edition) has been released

Cocktail 3.5.4 (Panther Edition) is a new maintenance update to Cocktail. Version 3.5.4 includes lots of improvements and is highly recommended for all users.

What's new in Cocktail 3.5.4 (Panther Edition)?

• Addresses an issue in which Finder may be automatically launched with root privileges
• Fixed compatibility issues with Symantec Personal Firewall and Intego NetBarrier
• Added "Mount disks without user login" setting (Disks)
• Added Mac OS X 10.3.9 compatibility
• Improved Activity Log
• Updated Droplets
• Other minor bug fixes and improvements

Cocktail 3.5.4 (Panther Edition) requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.3-10.3.9 with BSD subsystem (included in default Mac OS X installation).

Cocktail is currently not compatible with any of the preview builds of Mac OS X 10.4. We are expecting to release Cocktail (Tiger Edition) in April 2005.

All latest versions of Cocktail are available as free updates for registered users. When unregistered, Cocktail runs in demo mode and will expire after the tenth launch.

Cocktail 3.5.4 (Panther Edition) is available for download from http://www.macosxcocktail.com/download.html.

To download Cocktail from our iDisk, choose iDisk from the Go menu, choose Other User's Public Folder from the submenu, type "macosxcocktail" in the Member Name field and click Connect.

To install Cocktail, double click the downloaded .dmg file to mount it as a virtual disk on your desktop. This disk contains the program file that you should drag to your Applications folder. The virtual disk will be disposed of when you shut down your Mac but you may unmount it earlier by dragging its icon to the Trash.

Cocktail 3.5 (Jaguar Edition) has been released

Cocktail 3.5 (Jaguar Edition) is a new major update to Cocktail. Version 3.5 includes lots of new features, changes, improvements and bug fixes:

Cocktail

• Built-in and updated Uninstaller
• Cocktail is now fully localizable
• Added support for special characters in disk, folder and file names
• Added "Play Pilot completion sound" option to the Preferences
• Added possibility to save the information from the Specifications window
• Addresses an issue in which Uptime was not updated
• Addresses an issue in which position of the main window was not saved
• Updated "Provide Cocktail Feedback" feature
• New icon
• Updated Cocktail Help
• Other minor bug fixes, changes and interface improvements

Disks

• Disks on which journaling cannot be enabled do not appear in the pop-up button containing list of disks
• Disks on which permissions cannot be repaired do not appear in the pop-up button containing list of disks
• Spindown settings can now be applied for both Power Adapter and Battery Power

System

• Added "Rebuild Launch Services database" feature

Files

• Added more options to the cache cleaning feature
• Added "Search subfolders" option to the DS Store cleaning feature
• Fixed compatibility issues with ShapeShifter, Unison and other third party applications

Network

• Cards settings are not changed to the default values after the restart
• Added eight new connection types to the network optimization feature
• Added possibility to create custom network optimization

Interface

• Added "Hide the Desktop" setting (Finder)
• Added "Enable detailed logging" setting (Mail)
• Added "Decrease page loading times" setting (Safari)
• Added "Do not cache website icons" setting (Safari)
• Added "Display additional message in the login window" setting (Login)
• Added "Show Debug menu in Address Book" setting (Misc)
• Resolves an issue in which login settings could not be enabled

Pilot

• Added more cache cleaning options
• Added "Rotate all logs before deleting the rotated log files" option
• Added "Reprebind entire system" option
• Added "Repair permissions on all disks" option
• Pilot can now be configured to quit Cocktail when it has successfully run all of the selected tasks
• Pilot can now be configured to put the computer to sleep when it has successfully run all of the selected tasks
• Added sound notifications
• Fixed cron compatibility issues

Cocktail 3.5 (Jaguar Edition) requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.2-10.2.8 with BSD subsystem (included in default Mac OS X installation).

All latest versions of Cocktail are available as free updates for registered users. When unregistered, Cocktail runs in demo mode and will expire after the tenth launch.

Cocktail 3.5 (Jaguar Edition) is available for download from http://www.macosxcocktail.com/download.html.

To download Cocktail from our iDisk, choose Connect To Server from the Go menu, type "http://idisk.mac.com/macosxcocktail-Public" and click Connect. If you are using Mac OS X 10.3, choose iDisk from the Go menu, choose Other User's Public Folder from the submenu, type "macosxcocktail" in the Member Name field and click Connect.

To install Cocktail, double click the downloaded .dmg file to mount it as a virtual disk on your desktop. This disk contains the program file that you should drag to your Applications folder. The virtual disk will be disposed of when you shut down your Mac but you may unmount it earlier by dragging its icon to the Trash.

Cocktail is currently not compatible with any of the preview builds of Mac OS X 10.4. We are expecting to release the first public beta of Cocktail (Tiger Edition) in April 2005.

BSD Subsystem

The BSD Subsystem allows applications to interact with the system through the command lines and is required by such applications in order for them to operate correctly. The BSD Subsystem is installed by the Mac OS X Installer, but you can choose to not install it.

To custom install the BSD subsystem after Mac OS X 10.2 has already been installed:

• Insert the Mac OS X 10.2 Install Disc 1
• Double-click the Optional Installs folder
• Double-click the BSD Subsystem.pkg icon

If you do not see this package, choose File > Find and search the CD for BSD.pkg.

• Enter your account password when prompted
• Select the destination volume that contains Mac OS X 10.2
• Click Continue
• Once installation is complete, reinstall the Mac OS X 10.2.8 Combo Update

If you are running Mac OS X 10.3 and did not install this software, you need to reinstall Mac OS X and make sure that you select BSD Subsystem when you perform the installation.

Resolving preferences issues in Mac OS X

It is not uncommon that a preference file becomes corrupted in Mac OS X. If you suddenly have strange behavior or a crashing application, a preference file corruption may be the issue. Cocktail has the ability to check the syntax of the XML-format property list (.plist) files located in the /Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Preferences folders.

To check for corrupted preferences files:

• Choose Window > Specifications
• Click the Advanced tab
• Choose Preferences Files from the popup menu

The "stream had too few arguments" message is not an error but an indication that the file is empty or inaccessible.

The following is an example of an error message:

/Users/Kristofer/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Sherlock.plist:
XML parser error:
Encountered unknown tag list on line 3
Old-style plist parser error:
Expected terminating '>' for data at line 1

The standard way to fix a corrupted preferences file is to just delete it and then reset any custom settings in that specific application next time it is launched.

Personal certificate(s) breaks Cocktail access to the keychain

Having personal certificate(s) in the keychain breaks Cocktail access to the keychain. Cocktail will ask for the administrator password every time it is launched and checking Add to Keychain in the authentication dialog box will make no difference. This is caused by a bug in the Mac OS X built-in Keychain Scripting application which is used by Cocktail.

The workaround is to create a new keychain:

• Open Keychain Access, located in Applications/Utilities.
• Choose File > New Keychain
• Type a name and choose a location for the keychain (~/Library/Keychains if the recommended location for the keychains)
• Click Create
• Type a password for the keychain

New keychains are set to lock automatically. To change this setting, select the keychain in the keychains drawer and choose Edit > Change Settings for Keychain (the name of the keychain in the menu matches the name of the selected keychain).

and move your certificates from the default keychain to the new one. Please note that you don't need to move other peoples certificates to the new keychain. You should also verify/repair your kechains:

• Open Keychain Access, located in Applications/Utilities.
• Choose Window > Keychain First Aid
• Enter your password
• Click Repair
• Click Start

We have reported this bug to Apple. Hopefully it will be fixed in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).