MacOS – Same file reappears on Relocate Items after each macOS update

auto updatebashmacos

The following file keeps reappearing after each macOS update:
/Users/Shared/Relocated\ Items/Configuration/private/etc/shells.system_default

Ages ago I modified the file /etc/shells to add the latest bash version from Homebrew and after macOS changed to this new read only file system for the OS I see this on every update. I also noticed that private/etc/shells seem to be hard linked to /etc/shells, changing one file has an impact on the other (and I don't see a symlink).

The file under Relocated Items is not the modified file but seems to be the default file from macOS without changes (my file /etc/shells still has my changed for the Homebrew bash).

Is there anything I can do to avoid this happening after each update? I always delete the whole Relocated Items folder (not just the shortcut under the Desktop) but it keeps coming back.

Best Answer

Feeling kinda stupid as I found the explanation on the PDF named What Are Relocated Items? under the Relocated Items folder. The relevant part for the clarification is:

Configuration files with the suffix "system_default" were edited or customized, but the changes were allowed to remain installed. The system_default version of the file is provided to demonstrate what the Apple supplied version of this file would look like. It is recommended that you compare the two and evaluate whether you wish to integrate any changes Apple may have made to the default version.

As I modified this file, looks like Apple will always provide the default version of this file so I can manually compare it with my modified version and merge any relevant changes. So no way to avoid this behavior but finally I understand why this happens after each update.

Related Question