Ask HN: Why does macOS assume apps can reliably maintain settings files?

2 points·amichail··5 comments

I don’t trust apps to keep settings intact over long periods through multiple updates.

I think macOS should offer a feature to reset to a fresh install while preserving the home directory name and moving its contents to an "old" subdirectory.

Would you use such a feature occasionally (e.g., yearly)?

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So Apple should reinvent the wheel because you have a lack in trust your third party vendor app working or not through upgrades?

Create a new user and delete the old one. This functionality already exists and doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Likewise Apple shouldn’t be trying to help fix these issues in any sort of way as it will make troubleshooting issues with macOS and app updates harder to diagnose.

You shouldn't trust any app's ability to maintain the integrity of its settings files over multiple updates.

Honestly have never had an issue

There’s always going to be a possibility of an issue but if you’re blindly upgrading your OS without checking for support on your third party apps it’s always going to be a problem but you can run into this with any OS…

Why would macOS assume anything nonstandard about third-party applications? Either they function correctly or they don't.

Because it is very unlikely that an app (third-party or not) can correctly maintain its settings files over multiple years and multiple updates.

An OS should never assume that apps are written perfectly.

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