Need a Terminal command

What command would I enter into Terminal to get a list of my third party extensions?

Thanks.

What kind of extensions? Kernel extensions, Safari extensions?

system_profiler will provide all of the data that the System Profiler application does in a convenient text format.

Expanding... /Apps/Utils/System Profiler > Software > Extensions lists all your extensions, 3rd party included.

Edit:

Code:

system_profiler

didn't give me the same info as System Profiler does, no list of extensions, in particular.

Try

system_profiler SPExtensionsDataType

(though that doesn't provide any obvious means of distinguishing between Apple and non-Apple extensions).

Originally Posted By: dkmarsh

Try

system_profiler SPExtensionsDataType

(though that doesn't provide any obvious means of distinguishing between Apple and non-Apple extensions).

Thanks for that; I made a coupl'a stabs at a correct command earlier but didn't come close.

Your command returns more info than System Profiler offers, but in the same alpha format (although in a far less readable presentation), and it identifies extensions with exactly the same nomenclature; non-Apple extensions are included in the alpha order presentation and are, hopefully, readily recognizable in by their names.

Under the circumstances, I'll refer ryck to System Profiler as being the more user-friendly of the two methods of calling up the info.

Originally Posted By: David

What kind of extensions? Kernel extensions, Safari extensions?

I'm assuming all extensions. I want to be able to see if I have extensions for applications that I may have had at one time but no longer use.

Originally Posted By: dkmarsh

Try system_profiler SPExtensionsDataType

(though that doesn't provide any obvious means of distinguishing between Apple and non-Apple extensions).

It works. Thank you.

Originally Posted By: artie505

Under the circumstances, I'll refer ryck to System Profiler as being the more user-friendly of the two methods of calling up the info.

And thank you for that. It also works very well. I didn't even think to look into the System Profiler.

I was looking to see if I had any 'debris' laying around on my drive (thinking about the Blue Screen Blues thread) and thought I'd look into the Extensions folder at: HD/System/Extensions.

There's a lot of stuff in there that doesn't seem correct.e.g.:

LexmaskUSBMerge.kext (I don't have any Lexmark devices)
hp-Deskjet_io_enabler.kext (And a lot of other HP stuff although I've never had an HP printer)

There's also a bunch of things just titled with characters and numbers. I don't want to goof with anything accidentally that should be in the folder, but I wonder "if it's not needed, does it get in the way?"

On my machineâ€”still lollygagging in OS X 10.5.8â€”this Terminal command constructs a list of all extensions which contain the word Apple in their Get Info Strings (typically as part of either Apple Inc. or Apple Computer Inc):

system_profiler SPExtensionsDataType | grep -A 7 -B 4 " Apple "

I note that this command fails to produce at least one extension that appears to be of Apple originâ€”AppleXsanFilter.kext, which has no Get Info Stringâ€”and there's no guarantee that there aren't others.

More notably, of course, this command produces the opposite of what's desired; I imagine there's a way to produce its inverse, but I'm insufficiently Terminal-fluent to figure it out.

> There's a lot of stuff in there that doesn't seem correct.e.g.:

LexmaskUSBMerge.kext (I don't have any Lexmark devices)
hp-Deskjet_io_enabler.kext (And a lot of other HP stuff although I've never had an HP printer)

OS X 10.6.8, and I've got the same stuff, so I assume it's there by default.

In a different vein, I found /System/Library/Extensions/Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext:

Quote:

Dont Steal Mac OS X:

Version: 7.0.0
Last Modified: 8/1/09 1:55 AM
Get Info String: Copyright Â© 2006,2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

The purpose of this Apple software is to protect Apple copyrighted materials from unauthorized copying and use. You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, transfer or redistribute this file, in whole or in part. If you have obtained a copy of this Apple software and do not have a valid license from Apple to use it, please immediately destroy or delete it from your computer.
Kind: Intel
Architectures: i386, x86_64
64-Bit (Intel): Yes
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext
Kext Version: 7.0.0
Load Address: 0x971000
Valid: Yes
Authentic: Yes
Dependencies: Satisfied

It's purpose is both apparent and unclear at the same time, so I wonder under what circumstances it's called into action and what it does when it is?

Originally Posted By: artie505

In a different vein, I found /System/Library/Extensions/Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext:

Quote:

Dont Steal Mac OS X:

Version: 7.0.0
Last Modified: 8/1/09 1:55 AM
Get Info String: Copyright Â© 2006,2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

The purpose of this Apple software is to protect Apple copyrighted materials from unauthorized copying and use. You may not......

It's purpose is both apparent and unclear at the same time, so I wonder under what circumstances it's called into action and what it does when it is?

Try removing it an see what happens. If you suddenly hear helicopters overhead and a megaphone announcing: "We know you're in there, artie. Come out with your keyboard over your head"......you'll know you shouldn't have done that.

Originally Posted By: artie505

> [i]There's a lot of stuff in there that doesn't seem correct.

OS X 10.6.8, and I've got the same stuff, so I assume it's there by default.

I just wondered if there's any chance that stuff gets in the way. Can there be any problem just getting rid of it?

Originally Posted By: artie505

In a different vein, I found /System/Library/Extensions/Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext:

Quote:

Dont Steal Mac OS X:

Version: 7.0.0
Last Modified: 8/1/09 1:55 AM
Get Info String: Copyright Â© 2006,2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

The purpose of this Apple software is to protect Apple copyrighted materials from unauthorized copying and use. You may not......

It's purpose is both apparent and unclear at the same time, so I wonder under what circumstances it's called into action and what it does when it is?

Try removing it and see what happens. If you suddenly hear helicopters overhead and a megaphone announcing: "We know you're in there, artie. Come out with your keyboard over your head"......you'll know you shouldn't have done that.

In OS X 10.8.2 "Don't Steal Mac OS X.kext" is still there and dated June 25, 2012. According to what I have been able to find on Wikipediaâ€¦

Originally Posted By: Wikipedia

Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext, sometimes referred to as DSMOS or DSMOSX, is a file present in Intel-capable versions of the Mac OS X operating system which enforces a form of Digital Rights Management, preventing Mac OS X being installed on stock PCs. The name of the kext is a reference to the Mac OS X license conditions, which allow installation on one piece of Apple hardware only. According to Apple, anything else is stealing Mac OS X. The kext is located at /System/Library/Extensions on the volume containing the operating system.[4] The extension contains a kernel function called page_transform() which performs AES decryption of "apple-protected" programs. A Mac OS X system which is missing this extension, or a system where the extension has determined it's not running on Apple hardware, will be missing this decryption capability, and as a result will not be able to run the Apple-restricted binaries Dock, Finder, loginwindow, SystemUIServer, mds, ATSServer, backups, fonts, translate, or translated.[5]

The other kernel extensions such as those for various printers are present in case you happen to plug into or attach to one of those printers. Kernel extensions only load when the supported device is detected and they can load or unload dynamically as needed. Many printers use the standard Unix printing system (CUPS) but Lexmark and particularly HP insist on using their proprietary printing systems so Apple conveniently provides supporting kernel extensions for those devices. I can't think of any reason you could not delete those .kext files except the possibility that at some point in the future you might buy or install a device that requires that particular .kext.

Thanks.

I don't think I'll ever be fully acclimated to the fact that between them, Google and Wikipedia know everything.

Off topic comment. I found several references to DSMOSX, mostly in hacker forums, and in every one I looked at they copied and pasted the Wikipedia text but none of them gave proper attribution for the information. That bugs me.

Originally Posted By: joemikeb

Many printers use the standard Unix printing system (CUPS)

Ah, UNIX....thanks. I recall, in one of the iterations of installing drivers for my new printer, I read that I needed the CUPS drivers. I didn't understand what that meant except that they worked. Good to know.

Originally Posted By: joemikeb

I can't think of any reason you could not delete those .kext files except the possibility that at some point in the future you might buy or install a device that requires that particular .kext.

Well, as long as they're not going to be bumping into anything else I'll leave them. It's not like they occupy much space. Thanks again.

Originally Posted By: joemikeb

Off topic comment. I found several references to DSMOSX, mostly in hacker forums, and in every one I looked at they copied and pasted the Wikipedia text but none of them gave proper attribution for the information. That bugs me.

Well... They are thieves!