"Launch Tunnelblick" link in Configuration directory interferes with backup.

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The automatically created link to "Launch Tunnelblick" in the Configuration 
directory is interfering with my back-up software. Since it referenced objects 
my backup software cannot read or is locked.

Seems to break my Tunnelblick. Is there any reason why this Link is being 
created?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by lailo...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2011 at 5:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

That's not a bug in Tunnelblick, it's a bug in your backup software. (What is 
your backup software, by the way?)

The purpose of the link is to make it easy to launch Tunnelblick if you are 
viewing that folder in Finder.

Creation of the link can be disabled by adding the 
"doNotCreateLaunchTunnelblickLinkinConfigurations" boolean to your preferences.

This is such a little-changed preference that it can't be set via the GUI; you 
must set it manually -- see the Preferences wiki at 
http://code.google.com/p/tunnelblick/wiki/zPrefs for instructions.

Original comment by jkbull...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2011 at 6:08

• Changed state: Invalid

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I back it up with Time Machine as well as synchronizing it (my configuration) 
over multiple machines.

I use DropBox to sync it between my home and work machines, and making a change 
on one seems to overwrite my TunnelBlick app on the other as DropBox seems to 
follow symbolic links.

I really don't know how useful this shortcut is to anyone as there are plenty 
faster ways to find and launch it.

Also, how does this work when one has multiple versions of tunnelblick 
installed? Which one does it choose?

Also, why would one mix configuration and applications when on Apple/unix they 
are so cleanly and neatly separated? Seems like a return to Windows 3.1 days...

Anyway, thanks for the configuration option. I've added it, but I still think 
this is a bit of counterproductive feature-creep. (Sure, perhaps until I 
understand the reasons why one day...)

Original comment by lailo...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2011 at 6:21

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It writes out a link to the running version of Tunnelblick whenever Tunnelblick 
is launched. So you will always get the last version you launched.

It doesn't mix anything. The application is still in /Applications (or wherever 
you put it). It's just data -- a link is not the same as an application.

Is it Time Machine or Dropbox causing the problems?

Original comment by jkbull...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2011 at 6:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I've been digging around and I'm not too sure. I work from home on Fridays, and 
this morning I found that my home machine's Tunnelblick did not seem to launch:

Jul  1 13:31:45 thor [0x0-0x316316].net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick[3998]: dyld: 
Library not loaded: 
@loader_path/../Frameworks/Sparkle.framework/Versions/A/Sparkle

So I started trying different things... for instance I tried using a newer Beta 
etc. to no avail. (I'm eventually back on the stable now and it works again)

Then I noticed that my Time Machine had failed (a different problem I suspect) 
and that my Dropbox log showed that it had synched weird files. (Which ended up 
being the Tunnelblick app files.) I think the two dropboxes (on my work and 
home) are constantly re-synchronizing some of the important internal 
Tunnelblick files via the symbolic link in my config (and in the process 
resetting the permissions I think) which causes Tunnelblick to fix them, which 
flags them as changes on Dropbox... a vicious cycle.

But this is all just theory, and at least I've eliminated the Dropbox copy of 
the application by removing that link from my config directory.

I've also recently started suspecting that the new 10.6.8 update may or may not 
have done something to actually cause my original problem of Tunnelblick betas 
not working at all for me anymore.

I hope this all is useful, I think I'm at the end of my technical ability at 
this point to fault-find and have quite a bit of work to catch up on... :P

Original comment by lailo...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2011 at 7:03

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It does sound like Dropbox was copying or deleting parts of Tunnelblick. That 
would account for the weird "dyld: Library not loaded" error, or, I suppose, 
most any weird linking-type error.

Whether or not 10.6.8 did anything I don't know. I know that the Cocoa API for 
NSFileManager has the following curious comment under the 
"attributesOfItemAtPath:error:" method:

"In Mac OS X v 10.6 and earlier, if the last component of the path is a 
symbolic link (the value of the NSFileType key in the attributes dictionary is 
NSFileTypeSymbolicLink), it will not be traversed. This behavior may change in 
a future version of the Mac OS X."

So using that API is fraught with peril! Maybe Dropbox uses it and it changed 
in 10.6.8.

Original comment by jkbull...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2011 at 7:16

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I recall something like that, they seem to be deprecating or changing some 
functions to either follow or not follow links.

I did try and disable Dropbox, and recopy and install Tunnelblick, but it still 
seemed to fail.

Well... the only two things that I have changed was to install the latest XCode 
beta and install 10.6.8.

I've had some weird run-time linker errors on some of my iOS projects of late 
(I've seen those mentioned elsewhere) so it could be a beta Xcode problem 
related to libraries as well.

Original comment by lailo...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2011 at 8:06