defaults write help (Mac)

Question

I am trying to set a preference for Firefox to open in 32bit mode on 130 macs via Apple Remote Desktop. The easiest way to do this usually is with defaults write unfortunately I havent found any documention on this, and I cant figure out the syntax for writing a string thats not at the root level.

The file is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist

I need to change the string x86_64 to i386

<dict>
<key>LSArchitecturesForX86_64v2</key>
<dict>      
    <key>org.mozilla.firefox</key>
    <array>
        <data>
        Ym9va2QCAAAAAAQQMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
        AAAAAAAAAAAAYAEAAAwAAAABAQAAQXBwbGljYXRpb25zCwAAAAEB
        AABGaXJlZm94LmFwcAAIAAAAAQYAAAQAAAAYAAAACAAAAAQDAABq
        ix4BAAAAAAgAAAAEAwAAWYNjAQAAAAAIAAAAAQYAADwAAABMAAAA
        CAAAAAAEAABBtfgZbgAAABgAAAABAgAAAgAAAAAAAAAPAAAAAAAA
        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEFAAAMAAAAAQEAAE1hY2ludG9zaCBIRAgA
        AAAEAwAAAICcregAAAAIAAAAAAQAAEG0QBQYAAAAJAAAAAEBAAA0
        NkFGNUYyOC1DNTExLTM0MEMtQkU1RS1DREYzMTgyQThFOTIYAAAA
        AQIAAIEAAAABAAgA7z8AAAEACAAAAAAAAQAAAAEAAAABAQAALwAA
        AAQAAAADAwAAAAAAIBkAAAABAQAAL0FwcGxpY2F0aW9ucy9GaXJl
        Zm94LmFwcAAAAMwAAAD+////AQAAAAAAAAAQAAAABBAAACwAAAAA
        AAAABRAAAFwAAAAAAAAAEBAAAHwAAAAAAAAAIBAAABgAAAAAAAAA
        MBAAAEwAAAAAAAAAQBAAAGwAAAAAAAAAAiAAACQBAAAAAAAAECAA
        AKQAAAAAAAAAESAAANgAAAAAAAAAEiAAALgAAAAAAAAAEyAAAMgA
        AAAAAAAAICAAAAQBAAAAAAAAMCAAAJwAAAAAAAAAAdAAAJwAAAAA
        AAAAENAAADABAAAAAAAAAP8AADwBAAAAAAAA
        </data>
        <string>x86_64</string>
    </array>
</dict>

this worked for my uses, but an answer would still be nice. `sudo ditto --arch i386 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox_i386` `sudo ditto --arch i386 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox_i386 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox` — Brian, Oct 08 '12 at 17:44

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 08 '12 at 19:07

I don't think there's a way to do this with defaults (well, there is, but it involves dumping the entire LSArchitecturesForX86_64v2 dictionary, editing it, then reimporting). But PlistBuddy can do the job:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set :LSArchitecturesForX86_64v2:org.mozilla.firefox:1 i386" ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist

And the usual caveats before deploying anything to 130 computers: test this first (I tried it, once...), and have it back up the relevant file on each computer so if something does go sideways you can roll it back.

Rock on! Perfect and exactly what I needed. – Brian Oct 08 '12 at 22:15 — Brian, Oct 08 '12 at 22:15

defaults write help (Mac)

1 Answers1