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Safari issues continuing after migration
#32426 01/07/15 09:34 PM
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One month ago I mentioned some issues with Safari 5.0.6 on PPC Macs. Meanwhile I realized that the more annoying characteristics of this issue were limited to a particular user account. Since then I moved to a new 5K iMac and Yosemite, and quickly noticed that those issues had migrated with my main account. Again, it’s account-specific.

I could, of course, dump the problem account and start with a fresh one, but that’d entail manually migrating data without (a.o.) the easy permissions handling of Migration Assistant. The alternative is finding the source of the problem and eliminating it. At this point it’s not clear to me which way would be the least time consuming. Perhaps some of you have a suggestion to try.

Specifically, the problems manifest only in Safari, which either won’t display certain Google and Google-related pages properly, and is completely incapable of loading others. That includes Youtube (text-only), Google Maps (no image) and certain blogs (no go, period). And no, Little Snitch or browser extensions are not to blame. In addition, Safari complains of issues with Google certificates, which AFAICT are identical to the set in the other accounts without the problem. I tested to see if removing all items from the Safari and Keychain folders in ~Library improved matters. It did not. Likewise, Console logs weren’t particularly illuminating either (e.g., no crashes). What am I missing?


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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32427 01/07/15 10:13 PM
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You're in a similar position to deniro, who's also got an unidentifiable home folder problem.

I linked to ganbustein's Terminal commands for moving and restoring plists, but the old fallback of moving half of them and seeing what happens has apparently gone by the boards.

Edit: I wonder if you'd have any luck moving your entire ~/Library/Application Support folder aside?

Last edited by artie505; 01/07/15 10:35 PM.

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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32429 01/07/15 10:44 PM
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Do you have anything in ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/?



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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
dkmarsh #32432 01/08/15 03:00 AM
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Thanks for these suggestions guys. Unfortunately, removing both ~/Library/Application Support and ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ (the latter containing only a single item, Google Earth web plugin) had no effect on the problem. I’ll look into the .plist manipulation, but that’s not going to be easy, even with the ‘old-time’ 50/50 approach. Meanwhile, keep ‘m coming, those ideas!


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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32433 01/08/15 09:43 AM
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Could trashing and re-d/l'ing your extensions possibly have a different effect than merely disabling them? (Clutching at straws time.)

Edit: Playing the "50/50" game between accounts may be informative.

Last edited by artie505; 01/08/15 10:09 AM.

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In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32434 01/08/15 11:51 AM
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Well, unchecking Enable JavaScript in Safari -> Preferences -> Security -> Web content produces some symptoms similar to those you report, but that would've knocked out so much browser functionality* that I would expect you to have divined the problem rather quickly.

* For instance, you wouldn't have been able to submit a post!



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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
dkmarsh #32435 01/08/15 02:28 PM
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Originally Posted By: dkmarsh
... unchecking Enable JavaScript […] produces some symptoms similar to those you report, but that would've knocked out so much browser functionality that I would expect you to have divined the problem rather quickly.

Indeed, especially since JavaScript is an obvious variable to check, but other than for testing purposes has been enabled all along. And as to Artie’s comment re extensions, they were re-downloaded & reinstalled as part of my efforts to get to the bottom of this, but to no avail.

I’d like to reiterate that the problem is both Safari and user account specific; other browsers I tested in the same user account, like Chrome, Firefox and Opera (all latest versions), do not show it under Yosemite nor do they (in appropriate versions) on the PPC Mac under Leopard. The problem doesn't exist in other user accounts.


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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32442 01/09/15 12:41 AM
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I've been pondering how to do a 50/50 with plists considering that ganbustein says its extremely unlikely to work, particularly in the most recent versions of OS X, and I think I've got it...

Do a command-D on ~/Library/Preferences, and drag the copy to /Users/Shared. Then log in to a test user account and copy the individual plists from /Users/Shared to ~/Library/Preferences, 50/50 or otherwise, until you maybe find the culprit. (You probably ought to check permissions on the plists.)

Edit: I think that works...haven't tried; I tried with a guest account, and OS X wouldn't let me do it.

And on the subject of permissions, do you think there's any possibility that repairing your home folder permissions is worth a shot?

Last edited by artie505; 01/09/15 12:44 AM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32451 01/09/15 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted By: alternaut
Specifically, the problems manifest only in Safari, which either won’t display certain Google and Google-related pages properly, and is completely incapable of loading others. That includes Youtube (text-only), Google Maps (no image) and certain blogs (no go, period). And no, Little Snitch or browser extensions are not to blame. In addition, Safari complains of issues with Google certificates, which AFAICT are identical to the set in the other accounts without the problem. I tested to see if removing all items from the Safari and Keychain folders in ~Library improved matters. It did not. Likewise, Console logs weren’t particularly illuminating either (e.g., no crashes). What am I missing?

Have you tried resetting Safari? In Safari version 8 (which is what I assume you're running now in Yosemite), I see Safari→Clear History and Website Data and Safari→Preferences→Privacy→Remove All Website Data. (I assume the former includes the latter.) If you have the Develop menu enabled, there is also Develop→Empty Caches. (You enable the Develop menu with Safari→Preferences→Advanced→Show Develop menu in menu bar.)

Safari caches stuff in ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari, "$TMPDIR"/../C/com.apple.Safari", and in "$TMPDIR"/../C/WebKitPlugin-*. That should all get cleaned out if you Empty Caches, but it might be worth a look-see.

Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32452 01/09/15 07:37 PM
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FWIW, and this may be a total red herring, it could all be on the Google end.

I recently got a notification from Google stating that their security monitor had determined that I had been getting "unauthorized" Gmail login requests from my very own home IP address....it was in error, but as a result my Gmail access was being constrained from their end and required me to undue their constraints using their web security tools after logging into my Google account via their home page.

Don't know if that might relate here, but worth noting.....


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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
ganbustein #32455 01/09/15 10:37 PM
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Thanks for chiming in! Yes, I reset Safari (and yes, that’s v. 8.0.2 under Mac OS X 10.10.1) in all 3 ways you indicated, but it made no difference. It’s not immediately obvious whether the caches in ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari are entirely clean, as the size of the 3 main components ranges from 33 KB to 107 KB (the expanded folder contents listing runs into 27 pages). I had the folder open when I emptied the caches, so I saw the changes as they were updated by the Finder; I repeated the exercise a few times, and the numbers always returned to the same values. The same caveat applies to the contents of the $TMPDIR locations, assuming I located them correctly and comprehensively (Terminal lists a path to T rather than C folder on echo $TMPDIR).

There’s always the possibility of an external culprit like Google as MM suggests, but I somehow (mostly based on a gut feeling) don’t think that’s the case here. I certainly don’t recall getting notified by Google of ‘unauthorized’ activity, and neither have I looked into my security settings there.


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Re: Safari issues continuing after migration
alternaut #32470 01/11/15 06:25 PM
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Originally Posted By: alternaut
The same caveat applies to the contents of the $TMPDIR locations, assuming I located them correctly and comprehensively (Terminal lists a path to T rather than C folder on echo $TMPDIR).

That's what the /../ in "$TMPDIR"/../C is for. It backs up over the T and replaces it with a C.

You can get TMPDIR, CACHEDIR, and their common parent folder directly from

getconf DARWIN_USER_TEMP_DIR
getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR
getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR


but only TMPDIR is automatically set up for you. How these three folders are related depends on the OS version. On Snow Leopard the subfolders are -Caches- and -Temp- instead of C and T. I knew you were on Yosemite, so I used the Yosemite scheme. Otherwise I would have told you to cd "$(getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR)".


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