NetInfo was a distributed network configuration database in NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X versions up through Mac OS X Tiger (10.4). NetInfo stored network-wide configuration information, such as users and groups, in a binary database consisting of directories that could optionally be obtained from a domain server. NetInfo replaced many Unix system configuration files, though they are still present for running the machine in single user mode; most Unix APIs wrapped NetInfo instead.
NetInfo was introduced in NeXTSTEP version 0.9, and replaced both the Unix system configuration files and Sun Microsystems' Network Information Service (Yellow Pages) on NeXT computers. It immediately caused controversy. Not only was NetInfo unique to NeXT computers (although NeXT later licensed NetInfo to Xedoc, an Australian software company who produced NetInfo for other UNIX systems), DNS queries went through NetInfo. [1] This meant basic tasks such as translating a UNIX UID to a user name string could stall because NetInfo was stuck on a DNS lookup. At first, it was possible to disable NetInfo and use the Unix system files, but starting in NeXTSTEP version 2, this disabled DNS support. Thus, NeXT computers became notorious for locking a user out of everyday tasks because a DNS server had stopped responding.
The Mac OS X version of NetInfo remedied this (and many other problems), but by this time popular alternatives had emerged. Apple moved away from using NetInfo towards LDAP.. Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) was the last version to support NetInfo. Beginning with Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), NetInfo was completely phased out and replaced by a new local search node named dslocal, which uses standard property list files in /var/db/dslocal/
. [2]
The NetInfo Database was stored in /private/var/db/netinfo/local.nidb/, and could only be accessed by root. It could also be viewed and modified through its application programming interface, the NetInfo Manager utility, or command line tools such as niutil.
As NetInfo was completely removed from Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), the NetInfo utilities have been phased out and replaced by other tools.
NetInfo had directories for the following data:
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NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer, founded by Steve Jobs, in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of proprietary workstation computers such as the NeXTcube. It was later ported to several other computer architectures.
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Darwin is the core Unix-like operating system of macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, iPadOS, audioOS, visionOS, and bridgeOS. It previously existed as an independent open-source operating system, first released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code derived from NeXTSTEP, FreeBSD, other BSD operating systems, Mach, and other free software projects' code, as well as code developed by Apple.
OpenStep is an object-oriented application programming interface (API) specification developed by NeXT. It provides a framework for building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and developing software applications. OpenStep was designed to be platform-independent, allowing developers to write code that could run on multiple operating systems, including NeXTSTEP, Windows NT, and various Unix-based systems. It has influenced the development of other GUI frameworks, such as Cocoa for macOS, and GNUstep.
TextEdit is an open-source word processor and text editor, first featured in NeXT's NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP. It is now distributed with macOS since Apple Inc.'s acquisition of NeXT, and available as a GNUstep application for other Unix-like operating systems such as Linux. It is powered by Apple Advanced Typography.
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A/UX is a Unix-based operating system from Apple Computer for Macintosh computers, integrated with System 7's graphical interface and application compatibility. It is Apple's first official Unix-based operating system, launched in 1988 and discontinued in 1995 with version 3.1.1. A/UX requires select 68k-based Macintosh models with an FPU and a paged memory management unit (PMMU), including the Macintosh II, SE/30, Quadra, and Centris series.
A home directory is a file system directory on a multi-user operating system containing files for a given user of the system. The specifics of the home directory are defined by the operating system involved; for example, Linux / BSD (FHS) systems use /home/⟨username⟩
or /usr/home/⟨username⟩
and Windows systems since Windows Vista use \Users\⟨username⟩
.
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lsof is a command meaning "list open files", which is used in many Unix-like systems to report a list of all open files and the processes that opened them. This open source utility was developed and supported by Victor A. Abell, the retired Associate Director of the Purdue University Computing Center. It works in and supports several Unix flavors.
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Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. in a succession of two major series.
Mac OS is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. The Macintosh operating system is credited with having popularized the graphical user interface concept. It was included with every Macintosh that was sold during the era in which it was developed, and many updates to the system software were done in conjunction with the introduction of new Macintosh systems.