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Forked from DAddYE/hack.sh
Created March 31, 2012 07:02
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OSX For Hackers
#!/usr/bin/env sh
##
# This is script with usefull tips taken from:
# https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles/blob/master/.osx
#
# install it:
# curl -sL https://raw.github.com/gist/2108403/hack.sh | sh
#
echo "Enable full keyboard access for all controls (e.g. enable Tab in modal dialogs)"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode -int 3
echo "Enable subpixel font rendering on non-Apple LCDs"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2
echo "Enable the 2D Dock"
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -bool true
# Automatically hide and show the Dock
# defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool true
echo "Make Dock icons of hidden applications translucent"
defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool true
echo "Enable iTunes track notifications in the Dock"
defaults write com.apple.dock itunes-notifications -bool true
# Disable menu bar transparency
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleEnableMenuBarTransparency -bool false
# Show remaining battery time; hide percentage
# defaults write com.apple.menuextra.battery ShowPercent -string "NO"
# defaults write com.apple.menuextra.battery ShowTime -string "YES"
# echo "Always show scrollbars"
# defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowScrollBars -string "Auto"
echo "Allow quitting Finder via ⌘ + Q; doing so will also hide desktop icons"
defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool true
# Disable window animations and Get Info animations in Finder
# defaults write com.apple.finder DisableAllAnimations -bool true
echo "Show all filename extensions in Finder"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true
echo "Use current directory as default search scope in Finder"
defaults write com.apple.finder FXDefaultSearchScope -string "SCcf"
echo "Show Path bar in Finder"
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowPathbar -bool true
echo "Show Status bar in Finder"
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true
echo "Expand save panel by default"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool true
echo "Expand print panel by default"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -bool true
echo "Disable the “Are you sure you want to open this application?” dialog"
defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool false
echo "Disable shadow in screenshots"
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true
echo "Enable highlight hover effect for the grid view of a stack (Dock)"
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -bool true
echo "Enable spring loading for all Dock items"
defaults write enable-spring-load-actions-on-all-items -bool true
echo "Show indicator lights for open applications in the Dock"
defaults write com.apple.dock show-process-indicators -bool true
# Don’t animate opening applications from the Dock
# defaults write com.apple.dock launchanim -bool false
echo "Display ASCII control characters using caret notation in standard text views"
# Try e.g. `cd /tmp; unidecode "\x{0000}" > cc.txt; open -e cc.txt`
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSTextShowsControlCharacters -bool true
echo "Disable press-and-hold for keys in favor of key repeat"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
echo "Set a blazingly fast keyboard repeat rate"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0.02
echo "Set a shorter Delay until key repeat"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 12
echo "Disable auto-correct"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled -bool false
# Disable opening and closing window animations
# defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false
echo "Enable AirDrop over Ethernet and on unsupported Macs running Lion"
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces -bool true
echo "Disable disk image verification"
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify -bool true
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify-locked -bool true
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify-remote -bool true
echo "Automatically open a new Finder window when a volume is mounted"
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-open-ro-root -bool true
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-open-rw-root -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder OpenWindowForNewRemovableDisk -bool true
echo "Display full POSIX path as Finder window title"
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true
# Increase window resize speed for Cocoa applications
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSWindowResizeTime -float 0.001
echo "Avoid creating .DS_Store files on network volumes"
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true
echo "Disable the warning when changing a file extension"
defaults write com.apple.finder FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning -bool false
echo "Show item info below desktop icons"
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :DesktopViewSettings:IconViewSettings:showItemInfo true" ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
echo "Enable snap-to-grid for desktop icons"
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :DesktopViewSettings:IconViewSettings:arrangeBy grid" ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
echo "Disable the warning before emptying the Trash"
defaults write com.apple.finder WarnOnEmptyTrash -bool false
# Empty Trash securely by default
# defaults write com.apple.finder EmptyTrashSecurely -bool true
echo "Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins"
defaults write com.apple.screensaver askForPassword -int 1
defaults write com.apple.screensaver askForPasswordDelay -int 0
echo "Enable tap to click (Trackpad)"
defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -bool true
echo "Map bottom right Trackpad corner to right-click"
defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad TrackpadCornerSecondaryClick -int 2
defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad TrackpadRightClick -bool true
echo "Disable Safari’s thumbnail cache for History and Top Sites"
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSnapshotsUpdatePolicy -int 2
echo "Enable Safari’s debug menu"
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu -bool true
echo "Make Safari’s search banners default to Contains instead of Starts With"
defaults write com.apple.Safari FindOnPageMatchesWordStartsOnly -bool false
# Remove useless icons from Safari’s bookmarks bar
# defaults write com.apple.Safari ProxiesInBookmarksBar "()"
echo "Add a context menu item for showing the Web Inspector in web views"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true
echo "Only use UTF-8 in Terminal.app"
defaults write com.apple.terminal StringEncodings -array 4
echo "Disable the Ping sidebar in iTunes"
defaults write com.apple.iTunes disablePingSidebar -bool true
echo "Disable all the other Ping stuff in iTunes"
defaults write com.apple.iTunes disablePing -bool true
echo "Make ⌘ + F focus the search input in iTunes"
defaults write com.apple.iTunes NSUserKeyEquivalents -dict-add "Target Search Field" "@F"
# Disable send and reply animations in Mail.app
# defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool true
# defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableSendAnimations -bool true
# Disable Resume system-wide
# defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false
echo "Disable the “reopen windows when logging back in” option"
# This works, although the checkbox will still appear to be checked.
defaults write com.apple.loginwindow TALLogoutSavesState -bool false
defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowLaunchesRelaunchApps -bool false
echo "Enable Dashboard dev mode (allows keeping widgets on the desktop)"
defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode -bool true
echo "Reset Launchpad"
[ -e ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db ] && rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db
echo "Show the ~/Library folder"
chflags nohidden ~/Library
echo "Disable local Time Machine backups"
hash tmutil &> /dev/null && sudo tmutil disablelocal
echo "Remove Dropbox’s green checkmark icons in Finder"
file=/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/check.icns
[ -e "$file" ] && mv -f "$file" "$file.bak"
unset file
#Fix for the ancient UTF-8 bug in QuickLook (http://mths.be/bbo)
# Commented out, as this is known to cause problems when saving files in Adobe Illustrator CS5 :(
#echo "0x08000100:0" > ~/.CFUserTextEncoding
echo "Kill affected applications"
for app in Safari Finder Dock Mail SystemUIServer; do killall "$app" >/dev/null 2>&1; done
@burningTyger
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@stefanholek doesn't work for me. Seems to be working in 10.6 only.

@gregorynicholas
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how's this one to make Terminal on OSX a better experience? https://gist.github.com/1812027

@subbu
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subbu commented Apr 2, 2012

How do you restore all these settings?

@domfi
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domfi commented Apr 2, 2012

Here a sample output of setting/resetting defaults:
Read current setting:

$ defaults read com.apple.terminal StringEncodings

Returns:

2012-04-02 10:19:19.084 defaults[4442:707]
The domain/default pair of (com.apple.terminal, StringEncodings) does not exist

Set defaults:

defaults write com.apple.terminal StringEncodings -array 4

Verify setting:

defaults read com.apple.terminal StringEncodings
(
4
)

Delete setting:

defaults delete com.apple.terminal StringEncodings

Verify deletion:

defaults read com.apple.terminal StringEncodings

Returns:

2012-04-02 10:20:25.503 defaults[4461:707]
The domain/default pair of (/Users/dominik/Library/Preferences/com.apple.terminal.plist, StringEncodings) does not exist

If the setting did exist before changing: just set it to the old value.

Further help: man defaults

Don't want to troll, but this gist is called OSX For Hackers ;-)
You should not make such changes unreflected.

@JuanitoFatas
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Hello everyone, is there a way to make the very top menu bar's font bigger? My grandfather can't see it. I mean this bar

@mathiasbynens
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@JuanitoFatas
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@mathiasbynens Thanks. Seems my grandfather won't have headache anymore! :D

@fjordan
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fjordan commented Apr 4, 2012

I'm having trouble displaying my dashboard. I ran "defaults delete NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode" and have verified that it is F12, but it still doesn't work. Any ideas?

@domfi
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domfi commented Apr 4, 2012

@JuanitoFatas
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@fjordan fn + f12

@alex-ruehe
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CMD+F to focus search input in itunes works only for english language, german users should use

defaults write com.apple.iTunes NSUserKeyEquivalents -dict-add "Zielsuchfeld" "@F"

instead.

@fletom
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fletom commented Apr 21, 2012

DO NOT RUN THIS ONE:

echo "Disable the “Are you sure you want to open this application?” dialog"
defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool false

I ran it, and now I have all sorts of problems running new apps on my machine. This is broken/buggy on OS X.

@deepfriedmind
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What sort of issues? It's been working fine for me.

@fletom
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fletom commented Apr 21, 2012

@deepfriedmind
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I just tested this and can also confirm it. This setting should definitely be removed from this Gist.

@mathiasbynens
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@nomulous I’d appreciate it if you would file bug reports like these over at the original repository: http://mths.be/osx

@nomulous and @broodium Didn’t http://code.google.com/p/theunarchiver/issues/detail?id=464#c35 fix (well, work around) the issue?

@tjoozey
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tjoozey commented Jul 1, 2012

Does Dropbox tweak still work? I had to run this script again once I updated Dropbox, and it no longer works

@mathiasbynens
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@tjoozey It should work. Just run the command and make sure to run killall Finder afterwards. If that doesn’t help, report the issue here and I’ll take a closer look: https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles/issues/new

@tjoozey
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tjoozey commented Jul 1, 2012

THANKS

@zackdouglas
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Tried to use this on Lion (10.7.4), and it works great for the most part, but I'm seeing an issue with the
press and hold default, set by
defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
– currently on line 86.
I found success in using
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
as suggested here. Without thoroughly testing the other settings, I am happy with the result!

Thanks for a great script!

@mathiasbynens
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@zackdouglas -g is an alias to NSGlobalDomain, so both commands are equivalent.

@zackdouglas
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zackdouglas commented Jul 23, 2012 via email

@austinkettner
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Out of curiosity, setting .osx to hide hidden files via false instead of true, then re-running ./.osx does not actually hide the files. Any idea why? Im sure its something super simple.

@kohmaeda
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Try
killall Finder
in the Terminal

@milushov
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hey guys, what does it mean? "Enable spring loading for all Dock items"

@Zeokat
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Zeokat commented Mar 5, 2014

Zeokat yes, command killall did the job. Thanks.

@edruder
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edruder commented May 8, 2016

I just spent a lot of time tracking down a hang in Xcode that's caused by these lines in this script:

echo "Display ASCII control characters using caret notation in standard text views"
# Try e.g. `cd /tmp; unidecode "\x{0000}" > cc.txt; open -e cc.txt`
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSTextShowsControlCharacters -bool true

The symptom: Xcode 7.3.x (and maybe more) reliably hangs in a new Single-View iOS Application (in Swift, if that matters) with code completion turned on, as I typed a known symbol in a standard method of a controller (navigationItem, if you want to try this at home). Something in the tooltip that Xcode draws, or attempts to draw, locks up when rendering glyphs with this setting enabled.

I recommend commenting these lines out at least, if not removing them altogether. The following gets you out of the bad state, if you're in it:

defaults delete NSGlobalDomain NSTextShowsControlCharacters

@SenDaSheep
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What does this do?

@borjapazr
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Does this settings to automatically open a Finder window every time an external hard disk or storage drive is connected (volume is mounted) in MacOS Monterey (12.0.1) work for you?

# Automatically open a new Finder window when a volume is mounted
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-open-ro-root -bool true
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-open-rw-root -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder OpenWindowForNewRemovableDisk -bool true 
It doesn't work for me. Every time I insert an external hard drive it doesn't launch a Finder window.

@kikieri
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kikieri commented Apr 5, 2022

how does it work on Monterey? somebody tried?

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