I have recently came across just-released StuffIt Deluxe 8. Among other cosmetic enhancements, it includes a "new" (or rather, "new for OSX", since the feature existed back in Mac OS Classic versions of StuffIt) feature called "Archive Via Rename" that allows you to compress or expand files or folders quickly just by appending or removing an archive file extension (.sit, .sitx, .zip, etc).
Whereas the feature is a real life-saver for many people, and undoubtfully a convenient feature, I could not agree with the technology decision used to implement the feature in the Finder: it is a Kernel Extension.
Just how stupid is that? For the ones of you who would like the scoop right now, this is a quick round-up: APE, mach_inject, InputManager and similar techniques operate on a process level -- they can only access memory allocated to a particular process, and if things go very bad, that process will crash. Kernel Extensions load directly into the kernel, therefore they got access to everything in memory, including the sacred private kernel memory space. This means, if Kernel Extension goes haywire, you get a Kernel Panic (hello Bluetooth adapter drivers that got supposedly fixed with 10.2.8!). So in the first case, you get an application dying; in the second case you'll have to reboot your Mac.
Kernel Extensions are mainly used for device drivers -- these beasts have to have direct access to the kernel; some tools like Little Snitch also install their own kexts to trap on fundamental processes of the system (network operations in this particular case). But using a Kernel Extension to tweak Finder.app is not just plain silly, it is dangerous and stupid - Aladdin risks the stability of your whole system just so their single feature only affecting Finder.app could work. Moreover, if you launch the StuffIt AVR Preference Pane and turn off the feature, the Kernel Extension will stay there, silent, and ready to strike if anything goes wrong.
In real world, there are half a dozen solutions that do not involve making a Kernel Extension: above-mentioned APE, a QuickTime component, a Contextual Menu Module. Aladdin just picked the most outrageous out there - the approach can very well be compred to killing a mosquitoe with a nuke blast. Sure it works, but the impact is just slightly bigger than needed.
Let's just hope Aladdin has awesome programmers and that the above-ranted Kernel Extension is perfect and has no bugs. ;)
Update 09/26: Aladdin's Josh Stender posted a semi-official response to my doubts in the Aladdin Support Board. It is good that Aladdin Systems understand the possible side effects of the path they are taken and are willing to make a step to change that, if needed. As I said before, let's just hope the need will never arise. ;)
Posted by slava at 04:20 AM
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Complaints are popping up in the usual websites, kernel panics seem to be the main issue... what a surprise.
Posted by: Lon Hutchison on September 25, 2003 4:29 AMAfter installing Stuffit 8 I found that almost all of my finder & internet settings were wiped out.
I gave up on Aladdin with StuffIt Deluxe 7.x. Actually, I'll buy DropStuff, but that's it, and I'll only buy it so long as Entourage uses it to compress things. Actually, scratch that, i have tar and gzip and that's all I need anyway. I need the free Expander for some files on the web, but that's about it.
I'll stick with 7.x. 8.x. offers absolutely nothing I need. Then again, I didn't look. But since I never use the stuff in 7.x, I'm fairly certain.
Posted by: Erik J. Barzeski on September 25, 2003 8:05 AMyeah, dumb decision on Aladdin's part... hopefully they get some bad press out of this, and they fix the problem... who really needs Stuffit Deluxe anymore?
Posted by: john engler on September 25, 2003 6:14 PMCan Unsanity release an APE that, when a folder is renamed to .dmg, restructures the folder as a disk image?
Posted by: Richard Soderberg on September 25, 2003 9:52 PMfunny how after referring to this article (see first ping), i find myself with an iMac that refused to boot, kept showing the kernel panic screen even after pressing the SHIFT for safe-boot...not sure whether its purely AVR's problem or AVR with 10.2.8 ...
Posted by: jim on September 26, 2003 2:45 AM[off topic]
My haxie ideas:
A haxie that autocorrects spelling in a text view
A haxie that can change a file format based on the extension, ex: I rename a .txt file to .zip and it's automaticly changed to a zip file
At least now I know why I got a kernel panic while syncing my T610 phone the other day.
Back on topic, guess I will not be buying StuffIt Deluxe 8.
Posted by: Cleo on September 26, 2003 4:59 AMstuffing via renaming doesn't work on my mac, anyway. the kext got installed, but there's no preference pane anywhere. bah humbug!
Posted by: LKM on September 26, 2003 8:34 AM
Aladdin blows chunks. They are the only app I make a POINT of pirating.
Any suggestions on how to completely remove Stuffit expander 8?
Not only am I against the ktext installation, but on the G5 it improperly sets the execution bits on some files which means that unstuffed apps don't launch.
Posted by: timbo on September 27, 2003 6:05 PMJust got a kernel panic for the first time ever.
Happened about 12 hours after I installed Stuffit 8.
I promptly removed the prefpane and the kext and rebooted.
Posted by: David on September 28, 2003 7:43 PMTempest in a teapot. If you install any Linux distro, chances are you're going to have to recompile your kernel to support sound or some other feature. That builds third-party stuff into your kernel. Now, who do you trust? A former Apple file system engineer or some guy who whipped up something so his Diamond 3D Wonkybat4000 sound card would work? Kernel extensions are not a bad thing in and of themselves, it's all about the implementation. And in reality, I had far, far more problems with APE affecting system performance than I have had with AVR. *shrug*
Posted by: mneptok on October 3, 2003 5:32 PMThat Aladdin kext is incompatible with Fink, too. It's not as bad as it was with Norton SystemWorks' kext, though.
Posted by: Feanor on November 19, 2003 6:30 PMI have found a work-around of sorts for this. Yes, it involves uninstalling the program, and keeping select parts of it. However, this is not something that Stuffit 8 's Uninstaller allows. Although it has a "custom" option, I discovered it's misleading; my options were to uninstall all of Stuffit 8 or none of it.
I really wanted DropZip and DropStuff, so here is what I did. I installed the program into a folder in my Applications folder. Before I restarted the computer (you have to, to do a successful install), I made copies of DropZip and DropStuff on my desktop, naming them DZ copy and DS copy. Then I uninstalled the program, and was left with just the parts I needed. You may get a few errors in protest from Aladdin but yes, it can be done. You may have to restart your computer a couple of times to reset everything. Then test your items on your desktop. They should work fine, and you can drag DropZip and DropStuff and whatever else you've chosen to save to your Applications or other folder. In this manner you'll be left with just the select parts of the program you want, without the nagging Kernel Extension (or so it appears). Check your System Preferences, and there should not be a persistent program in the log-in area.
Remember, this won't work unless (a) the program is first successfully installed and computer rebooted, (b) then the parts you want copied (not moved) elsewhere (and temporarily renamed), (c) lastly the program is sucessfully uninstalled and the computer rebooted.
Be careful when you are uninstalling NOT to uninstall any OLD versions of Stuffit you have; it will bring up every installed version of Stuffit on your computer, so only choose the Stuffit 8 files. During the uninstall it will prompt you for where the Stuffit 8 folder is, so it is selective about the location of the Stuffit folder and the version.
Hope this helps someone.
Posted by: Better Late Than Never on January 2, 2006 3:27 AMhello, can anyone write me in e-mail step by step how to install aladdin stuffit application, very importan!
Posted by: ccc on May 16, 2008 9:56 PMKeep comments on topic. If a comment is unrelated to this post, it may be removed or moderated.