MacOS – Why is the symlink I created inside an application container to allow for external storage not working

macospodcastssymlink

I was trying to get around Vemedio's Instacast limitation on storage location by symlinking (ln -s) the Episodes folder in ~Library/Containers/com.vemedio.osx.Instacast/Data/Documents/Instacast to another location on another drive (which is actually internal in my Mac Pro for what it is worth…). I am wondering if Apple's sandboxing is preventing this to work… Once I open Instacast, none of the previously downloaded episodes are marked as available locally and if I try to redownload one, it seems to download the file in the background but never makes it available… Any idea?

Best Answer

For some reason, symlinking a part of the folder inside of the Containers folder doesn't work. If you want to symlink, you have to symlink the whole folder, i.e. com.vemedio.osx.Instacast

See https://snipt.net/certainlyakey/os-x-sandboxed-apps-and-symlinks-problem-solution/ for reference.

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Command-Line – Equivalent of ‘readlink’ for Mac Aliases

After more googling, I was able to pull together the pieces for an osascript command:

alias_path="your/alias/path"
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MacOS – Why isn’t the mute key working for an external output device

My guess is that the driver for your sound device may or may not implement all the expected sound controls on the keyboard. That is to say that they are implemented correctly by the system drivers (speakers, headphone socket) but these are not in the core sound processes - hence you need your driver to support them.

I have a Fiio USB headphone amplifier that I run from my MBP, and neither the mute nor the volume controls work on the keyboard. I suspect volume is applied by analogue circuits, not digital ones - so this would make sense. But I'm a touch surprised my mute doesn't work; maybe that is expected to be implemented by the same thing that controls the volume. (Edit: my device didn't come with a driver, but was recognised as a USB sound device automatically).

Long story short - I would guess that if there is a specific driver for your device, that installing that - or finding the control panel - might help. If you don't have a driver file, try googling for one (and obviously, only download from sources you trust).

Best Answer

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MacOS – Why isn’t the mute key working for an external output device

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