Dockfixup

[mscottblake]

I have a set of computers in a lab type of environment where I want the dock to be uniform on all machines and using my customizations.

I currently have a package created for the dock items, and the following script setup to delete the com.apple.dockfixup.plist file because I don't want Apple to add icons when the machines auto update. I run this script at startup.

#!/bin/bash
rm -rf /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dockfixup.plist;

Do any of you geniuses have a better way of handling this other than deleting the file on every startup?

[frozenarse · Accepted solution]

I deploy a custom dock.dmg file that was created in Composer. Afterwards I run a script that only wipes out the part of the dockfixup.plist file that tries to cram the Facetime and AppStore icons back in.

/usr/libexec/plistbuddy -c "delete:add-app" /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dockfixup.plist

I only do this one time per machine and any newly created profiles get the standardized dock.

This is for 10.7 machines BTW.

[mscottblake]

Should I assume the answer is no? lol

[frozenarse · Accepted solution]

I deploy a custom dock.dmg file that was created in Composer. Afterwards I run a script that only wipes out the part of the dockfixup.plist file that tries to cram the Facetime and AppStore icons back in.

/usr/libexec/plistbuddy -c "delete:add-app" /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dockfixup.plist

I only do this one time per machine and any newly created profiles get the standardized dock.

This is for 10.7 machines BTW.

[mscottblake]

I only do this one time per machine

Doesn't the file get "fixed" after an OS update (say 10.8 to 10.8.2)? How do you handle that?

[jarednichols · Accepted solution]

I deploy a custom dockfixup.plist that has the Apple cruft removed from it. It survives OS updates.

[frozenarse]

I didn't hear of any issues after upgrading from 10.7.4 to 10.7.5. Honestly I didn't even know it was a potential problem.

[dilan]

We do something similar but instead of messing with a script we use a policy with the "Advanced" feature to look for a file and "Delete if found". It searches for /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dockfixup.plist and then deletes it. We make this policy ongoing and only at startup. If your system gets an update, it's going to require a reboot. If the dockfixup file gets created, this policy will do the trick.

10.7.3 to 10.7.5 definitely added this dockfixup file back into place.

[oopsydaisy]

We do something similar but instead of messing with a script we use a policy with the "Advanced" feature to look for a file and "Delete if found". It searches for /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dockfixup.plist and then deletes it. We make this policy ongoing and only at startup.

This worked great, thanks

[wmateo]

@oopsydaisy @jarednichols this works well for me with <500 local accounts,. But doesn't work with AD Users. Any Idea why?

[dilan]

@wmateo we use AD logins only (no local users) and have been deleting dockfixup from 10.7 to 10.9.x and it appears to fix the problem. Have you tried deleting the dockfixup plist file all together to see if it works? Also, are your AD user folders deleted at login/logout? If not, the Dock prefs have been stored with the dockfixup items. You can test this by creating a new local user or by logging in with an AD user that's never logged in before.

[wmateo]

@dilan I tested with a new user local, and the items are not there. I am going to test with a AD user that has never been logged in, after deleting file manually.

[dilan]

@wmateo Sweet. I'm assuming it's the AD users that have logged in previous to you deploying the "dockfixup" fix having their prefs already saved in the dock.plist file. A couple suggestions to change current user docks is to delete their dock.plist and have it regenerate or deploy a policy with a specific dock.plist that has the icons you want the end user to see in their dock. You can also attempt to edit their current dock.plist. It just depends on how complicated you want to make it. I would recommend using a policy to set the Dock the way you want it and never think about it again.

[wmateo]

@dilan it turns out that the dockfixup file was still in the library, hence my script wasn't deleting it. I have since corrected and all is well with the world. Thanks for your response. I appreciate it.