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Basically, things that the user never needs to double-click or use an open/save dialog to access. It's basically a place to store things that programs need to get at, but that the user doesn't (generally) need to be explicitly aware of. However, some programs (mostly Apple-authored ones) are, um, egotistical enough to think they need their own top-level folder inside the library, so they go ahead and create one and store things in it.Īs for the name "Library", I wouldn't read too much into it. Fonts, Keychains, Services), so there's just a bunch of files there. Some resource types are available to many or all programs (e.g. there's a Preferences folder, a Caches folder, an Application Support folder, etc) with files/subfolders per application (or system component, or whatever). Now, as for the files inside the various library folders: Most of them are organized by type (e.g.
- Application group sandbox libraries, ~/Library/Group Containers//Library, is used to store shared preferences, application support files, caches, etc between related groups of applications (from the same developer).
- Per-application sandbox libraries, ~/Library/Containers//Data/Library, which will generally contain a few real folders like Preferences and Saved Application State, and also symbolic links to the regular-user-library versions of other folders (e.g.
- They're mostly restricted to their own sandbox "container" (which is itself inside the user library), and as a result they get their own "private" libraries: Sandboxed apps don't have access to most of the user's home folder. In theory, you shouldn't change anything in here.
- The system library, /System/Library, stores the base settings, resources, etc that come with OS X.
- The network library, /Network/Library would store settings shared by all computers in a network domain - if a network domain admin set one up, which nobody does anymore.
- BTW, I call this the "local" library, because in NextStep it was /Local/Library, but you'll see all sorts of other names for it, such as the root library, computer library.
- The local library, /Library, stores computer-wide settings etc.
- The user library, ~/Library, stores per-user settings etc.
- The library folders store settings, resources, and support files.