The only way to ensure consistency in local file names and paths when running a command or script is to disconnect that Mac from its iCloud storage until that command or script has completed. When that file is downloaded to local storage – something which can be triggered by all sorts of events – the leading stop/period and the extension are stripped. When a file has been evicted from local storage, and only exists in full in iCloud storage, the local stub file uses the previous name prefixed with a stop/period, and gains the extension of. Whatever your feelings about the consistency or otherwise of the human interface to iCloud, Apple’s current engineering solution breaks consistency of file names and paths. The human interface can play all sorts of clever tricks in presenting those to the user, but if there’s a file named this.text in the path /here/there/everywhere/, then commands need to be able to rely on that to access that file. One of the most basic is the constancy of file names, and the consistency of directories and their paths within the file system. Administering a network of Macs also requires access to a lot of features within it which are only accessible through Terminal and shell scripts.Ĭommands and shell scripts have to rely on some fairly fundamental assumptions about the underlying operating system. The myriad of controls and features cannot all be exposed in GUI tools, and Apple has made a conscious effort to limit those which are offered to the ‘ordinary user’ to protect people from their own curiosity and tinkering. This is because of all the added complexities in macOS, to cater for its many and varied uses and users. Not that many users do so consciously, but without that ability, managing macOS becomes far more difficult, and in parts impossible. One of the most fundamental features of macOS, and a defining difference between it and iOS, is the ability of users and system administrators to run commands and shell scripts.

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