Anyway to manually rebuild /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb?

Some software I installed recently deleted /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb. I found out when Leopard was acting weird and I couldn't repair permissions. I have too many apps & updates to track down what caused this.
I've scoured the web & ADC looking for a way to manually rebuild a.receiptdb, found zip. To get productive quickly, I did a clean install. I now back up /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb nightly JIC.
Two questions:
1) Has anyone figured out if there's a way to rebuild a.receiptdb from the Receipt .pkgs and .boms?
2) Does an Archive & Install with migrating apps work properly if a.receiptdb is missing?
I hate to think OS X is putting all its eggs in one basket like Windows does with the Registry...
TIA,
Sam

I had tried reinstalling the 10.5.6 combo update and then repairing permissions to see if a.receiptdb would pick up all the other .pkgs & .boms, it didn't: it only had the 10.5.6 update. Repair Permissions took a few seconds, not the minutes it normally does.
AFAIK Disk Utility only reads a.receiptdb. Installer modifies a.receiptdb, adding what it's installing to it. But I've found nothing that will recreate a.receiptdb from the .pkgs & .boms in /Library/Receipts.

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Manual rebuild of iPhoto library

Yesterday when opening iPhoto 2.0.1 none of the photos were visible in the Organize window. All the photos seem to be there, I just can see them in iPhoto.
I've tried deleting the .plst file. No change.
I've tried holding Option+Shift when opening and rebuilding the library. It just creates a new library without any images. None of the images are automatically loaded.
In my efforts to manually move images to the new, empty library, I have no luck. I've tried using the Import function , but I always end up with 0 photos in the new library.
I've also tried dragging jpg images, folders with images and data/thumbnails from the corrupted library to the new library, and the originals folders. None of it works.
There must be some steps that I'm missing in a manual rebuild of the iPhoto library for version 2.0.1
I'd really appreciate any advice out there. I've already ****** away many hours trying to make this work.
Thanks,

I've tried holding Option+Shift when opening and rebuilding the library.
It just creates a new library without any images.
If the rebuild just creates an empty library, then the library you're trying to rebuild is very likely empty in the first place (probably as a result of the other activities you've described having been done).

Library can't upgrade to iPhoto '11, can't rebuild Library either.

After recently installing iLife '11, my iPhoto Library became unusable. When I OK'd iPhoto to "upgrade" my library, it started the process and then presented an error message "iPhoto is unable to open this Library".
I couldn't rebuild the Library either. So I was able to "downgrade" back to iPhoto '09 and restored my Library from an older backup (a couple days old). I simply moved iPhoto '11 to the desktop, deleted iPhoto prefs, and reinstalled iPhoto '09 from disc. My intention was to use iPhoto '09 to rebuild the library and then upgrade again. After reinstalling iPhoto '09, I can open my iPhoto library just fine. Appears to be normal. However, when I try to "rebuild" the library, iPhoto instantly quits. No error messages or anything. Just quits.
I downloaded iPhoto Library Manager hoping that it may allow me to rebuild the library. When I try to do that, it prompts me to use iPhoto 9.0 ('11) to upgrade the library before I rebuild. It appears that my Mac (at least iPhoto Library Manager) still thinks iPhoto 9.0 ('11) is installed. I'm positive that iPhoto 8.1 is installed, and that's what's in my Applications folder. That's what is successfully opening my iPhoto library. Any ideas on how I can rebuild this Library in '09 so that I can try to "upgrade" again?
Running on new iMac with 10.6.4 installed.

Just wanted to chime in to this as I ran into the same issue, and these boards have been a great resource in the past.
Here's what I attempted to do that didn't fix the issue;
- Tried to rebuild the library from iPhoto '11 (CMD+Option) when opening the program, which failed with the exact same error as OSO - Mac was mentioning above.
- Reverted back to iPhoto '09 (deleted iPhoto '11 from /Applications/, as well as deleted any reference to iPhoto in /Library/Receipts; I saw no references but took that suggestions from a previous thread here), then reinstalled iPhoto '09 via original discs. I was able to open the library as I wanted (pulled a library from a few days ago in a Time Machine backup to be safe), then attempted to rebuild in hopes that would help issue. Reinstalled iPhoto '11, but the same issue occurred.
Here's what I attempted to do that somewhat fixed the issue;
- Option-clicked to open iPhoto '11, then chose to create a new library. Created a new library (I named mine iPhoto2) in the ~/Pictures/ folder. Closed iPhoto. Then I navigated to the ~/Pictures/ folder, right-clicked on the original iPhoto library that won't open, as well as the newly created iPhoto library that does open (but lacks any content), and choose to Show Contents. I manually copied all the contents of the original iPhoto library to the new iPhoto library (some folders and files overwrote, some did not; note that the structure of the iPhoto '11 library is radically different than that of the iPhoto '09 library) and then re-opened iPhoto. iPhoto prompted me to upgrade the library again (peculiar since the library technically was created in iPhoto '11, but I guess it saw elements of the iPhoto '09 structure) and successfully upgraded the library. The only downside was that, for whatever reason, certain photos did not come back and were blatantly missing thumbnails and originals. But my album structure, faces, etc. remained intact.
What I did that finally fixed the issue;
- Brought back my good library from a Time Machine backup, then right-clicked on it within ~/Pictures/ and chose Get Info. I manually set permissions for everyone on my machine (admin, staff, everyone, and myself) to Read & Write. Option-clicked when opening iPhoto, forced it to look for my newly-permissioned library, and viola, upgraded without issue and no lost photos.
Not sure if my solution will work for all, and my apologies for providing such information that isn't so concrete, but since these are user-to-user forums, I thought I'd offer my experience as I was not able to locate any other solutions without entirely losing my album structure, faces data, etc.

PKGs in /Library/Receipts

Hi Community,
I read a lot of tutorials and storys about the sense and nonsense of the repair_permissions feature. I followed the trace of the mechanism in my filesystem and I'm surprised why I can find only a half dozed PKGs in the folder /Library/Receipts. All this manuals describe this folder as the parking place of all installed packages and some system tools like updaters or even the repair_packages tool take this folder to determine the installed packages.
But why is this folder nearly empty?
Thanks in advance & Bye Tom

R C-R wrote:
Some non-Apple software still puts its receipts info in the /Library/Receipts folder, typically but not always software released before Snow Leopard was. This info may be a little less complete than with the new way or a bit slower to access but otherwise it is completely equivalent.
I do not believe this action is on purpose for the non-Apple packages. I think it is the nature of the install package itself. Examples:
1. I make a single package installer using PackageMaker in OS X 10.4.11 that installs software that will work on OS X 10.3.x through OS X 10.6.x. You need to use the older PackageMaker to support installs on OS X 10.3.x. The installer will not leave a receipt in /Library/Receipts for OS X 10.6. It will leave a receipt in /Library/Receipts for OS X 10.3.x through OS X 10.5.x. An example of this is Foomatic-RIP package at <http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/macosx/foom atic>.
2. I make a meta-package installer (an installer that contains more than one installer package). I make this meta-package in OS X 10.4.11 as before to install software on OS X 10.3.x through SO X 10.6.x. In all versions of OS X, including OS X 10.6.x, receipts will be left in /Library/Receipts for all the packages installed from the meta-package. An example of this is the Ghostcript package at the web site mentioned above.
In neither case did I choose whether or not to place a receipt in /Library/Receipts or in /var/db/receipts. It is a function of the type of the installer package and what version of PackageMaker that is used.
The suggestion macjack made that
{quote}It seems all the receipts in the /Library/Receipts folder are old receipts from previous systems.{quote} is therefore not the case. Some installations in Snow Leopard will leave receipts in /Library/Receipts.

/Library/Receipts does not contain *any* Apple app receipts?

Has Snow Leopard changed the way Apple Installers and Software Update handles receipts? Used to be if you installed an app like iLife (or any other app), there'd be one or more .pkg files in /Library/Receipts.
I've got a fresh install of Snow Leopard that does not show any .pkg receipts from any Apple-installed software, including iLife, iWork or Logic Studio. And I just updated the OS to 10.6.1 via Software Update along with iTunes 9, and still not a single .pkg file in Receipts. There's over 20 of them in there from Microsoft Office, though...
Has Apple changed the receipts procedure under Snow Leopard, or do I have a problem here?
Can anyone with a fresh, clean install (not an update or a migrate) of Snow Leopard take a look in their /Library/Receipts folder and tell me if there's anything in there from an Apple install? Any Apple install...?
Clean Snow Leopard installs only, please; update installs might have old receipts left over from 10.5 installs and old Software Updates.
Thanks.

baltwo wrote:
Those are blown away, starting with Leopard, vers 10.5.6, IIRC. They're initially downloaded into Updates, used, and then deleted. If you want to save them, don't install until you make copies. The pkgs that previously resided in Receipts were just markers and weren't the full installers. Alternatively, manually download and run them.
Interesting, and thanks.
Get this: the new Software Update has done away with the menu option that allowed "Download Only". I guess they're trying to limit the distribution of their installers.

/Library/Receipts/ Question

I have a TON of packages in my /Library/Receipts/ folder. Is is okay to clean out all of those packages? Or are they needed? I'm thinking it could save space on the hard drive.

The receipts are used by Disk Utility to repair permissions, and by Software Update to determine which updates are needed. It is not a good idea to remove them.

Found 5.04 update under library/receipts but have fcp 6.04

I was looking into uninstalling FCP 6.04 and reinstalling it to hopefully clean up some kinks and I found "fcp 5.04 update" under library/receipts. Should I trash this? I use to have FCP 5 and have a project currently on my desktop that originated as FCP 5 and am having problems with it in FCP 6- the Motion sequences have been altered for some strange reason. I have NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT graphics card-
original to this MacPro. I read that "Final Cut Studio is not compatible w/ integrated Intel graphics processors". Does this affect me? Do I need a new graphics card?
Thanks for your guidance.

it's just a receipt and its harmless to your current install
if you are going to do the uninstall / reinstall thing you could do worse than check out Jon Chappel's FCS Remover app .... it may save you a world of pain
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/fcs_remover.htm
.. and No, your MacPro doesn't have an integrated graphic chipset so that warning shouldn't concern you

Deleting *certain* items from Library/Receipts?

I know a lot of people say never to delete anything from the folder Library/Receipts, but how about:
printer brands you don't own/use
applications you've deleted
also:
I have about ten receipts for NeoOffice updates--would it be ok to delete all but the last?
and
a system package for 10.3.9--i know normally not to touch apple system stuff but if you've been using tiger from day one practically and plan to upgrade to leopard soon is it ok to throw out a panther-related receipt?
tia
P.S. i know i need to delete other things (movies basically) because i'm down to a couple gigs of free space on my HD

I may then--in part just to see in fact how much has been going on under my nose so to speak.
Btw it was my bad in saying the printer .pkg files were over 100MB--I was also throwing stuff out of my Printers folder. .pkg files seem to always be around 300K.
FYI I asked about deleting the Neooffice update receipts at the NeoOffice forum and I already got a response from their board administrator--they said they don't use them so it's ok to throw out even the most recent one.
Also how about QuickTime receipts? (again, except for the most recent one). I've got at least six or seven of those. If you're not sure I would err on the side of keeping them, just because they're Apple system software.

Where do I find (Library/Receipts)?

Where do I find (Library/Receipts)?

Interesting question...
in your user directory:
HD/Users/#YOURNAMEHERE#/Library/Receipts/
Why do you need to find it?

Mavericks tidy-up (/Library/Receipts)

Looking at Activity Monitor I've noticed a few background processes related to applications and hardware that I am no longer using running in the background.
Whilst cleaning these up I've also found quite a large amount of data in the /Library/Receipts folder - most of which dates back to 2009 or earlier - there seems to be little need to keep these hanging around.
I'm guessing that these are holdbacks from installing one OS on top of the previous, or from using Migration Assisstant to move from old to new machines.
Is there a simple way to clean-up my install?
For instance if I back-up, do a clean install and then Migrate Users will I keep the out dated files?
Otherwise is there a list of folders that are no longer used by Mac OS X?

I don't know of any simple way to do this aside from educated guesses & trial & error, thus the suggestion to keep a cloned backup (updated as needed) in case you do delete something you should not have.
Not quite the same thing but similar is making sure you have a functional clone or an intact Time Machine backup, & then doing a clean install by booting into the Recovery HD partition, erasing the startup disk using the Recovery HD partition's copy of Disk Utility, & then installing the OS via Internet download.
When that completes, you can use Setup/Migration Assistant to transfer just your user data (& maybe system settings) from the clone or Time Machine backup, but you will still have to install all the third party apps you still use all over again.
Obviously, this is a very time consuming process no matter which approach you take. Because of that, I long ago gave up on that & only delete large files & packages when I am absolutely certain I no longer need their contents (& even then I still have backups stored as compressed disk image files for startup volumes going back to when Tiger was new just in case there is something I need from them some day).

HT201260 where are /library/receipts version 10.6.8

Hi,
I am looking for the Library/receipts in Version 10.6.8. I am doing a reinstall of FCP7 and it recommend to delete the FCP pkg file before reinstall.

Packages are no longer maintained in that folder. The only viable item in /Library/Receipts/ should be the InstallHistory.plist file. All previous packages should be gone from there. The bom and plist files associated with installations are now stored in /var/db/receipts/. Contact FCP for details on what to remove from there.

About /Library/Receipts folder

I noticed that for every updates that I downloaded and installed, Mac keeps a copy of the package file in /Library/Receipts folder. Just wondering if it's safe to delete the files in this folder, as I believe over a period of time the older installer packages might not be needed any longer?

You definitely do NOT want to delete anything in that folder. They're not the full package, so they don't take up nearly as much space as you'd think. And Disk Utility usess them to repair your permissions. Software Update also uses them as part of the process of figuring out what to download and install. The only time you'd ever want to delete one is for a specific reason, like you need to re-apply an update and the presences of its receipt is blocking you from doing that.
charlie

Are Library/Receipts files needed?

I have a lot of files in my HD/Library/Receipts directory that are taking up a lot of space. Is it OK if I delete them?
Thanks,
Stew

I would not recommend it. Among other functions, the receipts tell Software Update what's been installed on your computer. If there are receipts for software you know you've deleted, you can safely delete those, but you should leave all the others.

Library/Receipts (Can I delete?)

Just purchased a new Macbook, and I'm trying to just be a bit more efficient in saving space on my HD than I was on my old Powerbook. Just wondering, can I delete the receipts in my Macintosh HD/Library/Receipts folder?

joshl24,
W.J. is correct.
I use Macaroni to remove unused language localizations and perform Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X. Monolingual also removes unnecessary language resources, but I have not used it.
You will also find additional advice regarding safe ways to increase the free space on your startup disk by reading Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk which is written by Dr. Smoke.
;~)

Safari does not support community toolbar ive searched my computer for the following like people have said in similar posts but none seem to work /Library/Application Support/Conduit /Library/InputManagers/CTLoader /Library/Receipts/ctloa

hey all i know that there have been many post about this community toolbar thing that pops up when opening Safari
i have searched my computer for the things that have been posted in the other posts to delete
/Library/Application Support/Conduit     (no conduit in folder)
/Library/InputManagers/CTLoader         (i dont have input managers i have input methods but still no CTLoader)
/Library/Receipts/ctloader.pkg                (no ctloader.pkg)
/Library/Receipts/<Toolbar name>.pkg      (nothing in this one either)
/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/CT2285220.bundle         (NADA)
/Users/<User name>/Library/Application Support/Conduit           (NOTHING EITHER)
where / is the root library on your Hard Disk.
If you are running Snow Leopard you should also look here:
Library/launchAgents/com.conduit.loader.agent.plist
Library/Application support/conduit plugins
i have pretty much looked everywhere i dont even know where this thing came from
can anyone lend some advise i really do not want to take the 2 hour ride to apple to get this off my computer
thanks so much

When you see this path:   /Library   That is your root Library.
Open a Finder window.
Select MacintoshHD in the Sidebar on the left then open the LIbrary folder then the Application Support folder, then InputManagers folder, the Receipts folder.
For this path: ~/Library/Application Support (your Home library)
The Tilde character ~ represents your Home folder.
From that same Finder window select your Home folder in the Sidebar. It has a small house icon. Open the Library folder then the Application Support folder.
Move all the Conduit/CT associated files you posted above to the Trash.
Try Safari.
I've yet to find the launchAgents.plist file in any Safari crash report in years. I don't think that's a problem.
Another way to find files on your hard drive is to go to your Finder.
From the menu bar at the top of your screen click Go / Go to Folder.
Example. Type in: /Library/ApplicationSupport   click Go
Or type in: ~/Library/Application Support   click Go

Anyway to manually rebuild /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb?

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