I wonder why they didn’t call them Library A, Library B and Library C or something similar just in order to keep them apart for newbies. 

Ah, indeed!  It would have helped a whole lot of us.
But I've wondered if it was a programming thing— command-line folks see things a bit differently, and focus on the whole path name.  Maybe they can simplify their life by doing certain things with any/all "Library" folders regardless of the rest of the path name.  Just a guess.  Maybe someone who knows will tell?  Or maybe it was just done that way because its always been that way in the Unix world?  :-) 

With your clarification it is now apparent that you had Both App folders.  Ah the simplicity of _not_ upgrading.  (I need _some_ consolation for be so behind! :-) 

Ben Andrus 

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On 2011 Aug 18, Thu, at 4:05 pm, Þorvarður Davíðsson wrote:



Because until Lion applications with user preferences were stored in /Users/~/Applications, NOT in /Applications. Now /Users/~/Applications is gone in Lion.


On 18.08.2011, at 22:53, Andrus wrote:

Are you sure, Þorvarður?

I'm only on 10.4.11, but I've never seen a ~/Applications folder.


Good you chime in, Ben. The fact is, I’m not sure at all, I was going to mention that but must have forgotten it. It could be that /Users/~/Applications folder was created on my computer when I migrated from OS 9 to OS 10.4.11. I used Migration Assistant, as far as I can remember, and I admit I never really took a close look at the pristine Tiger *before* I used Migration Assistant. I was just glad that all my data was correctly transferred. That was my first priority. So the notion that /Users/~/Applications was created by the installer from the very beginning may be wrong after all.


BUT it would easily seem so without careful scrutiny, because Apple put in the side-bar of the Finder windows a fancy big 'A' icon for the Apps folder right next to the Desktop, home & Documents folder icons.

I have two Applications folders in the side bar, one has an "A" consisting of a pencil and a paint brush (that’s the /Applications folder) and another blue one with a fancy "A" (that’s the /Users/~/Applications folder.)



As for knowing where to put the prefs, as near as I have understood they have always gone into the ~/Library folder of the account that was active at launch.

This is exactly what I was silently thinking of too. That’s the only way it makes sense.


I keep sorting it out but still end up disoriented with the three Library folders— in Root, System, and User.  

I wonder why they didn’t call them Library A, Library B and Library C or something similar just in order to keep them apart for newbies. 

I'm not sure hiding some will help much, but . . . then I don't have to deal with that till I upgrade.  Good Luck.  :-) 

I’m through with Lion and back to 10.6.8, I’m having too many PowerPC programs that I can’t be without.


Best,
Þorvarður