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Disabling kextcache on 10.5.8 and 10.6.3

Disabling kextcache on 10.5.8 and 10.6.3

We use Radmind to manage our Mac OS X loadsets and, as such, often run into difficulty when new OS releases come out due to, among other things, updated kernel extensions. The workflow in the past (OS revisions <= 10.4) was to delete the kernel extension cache, update the extensions, and then reboot. That worked just fine, as the system would re-create missing caches on boot. In Leopard, you need to delete the caches after replacing the kernel extensions with their new versions, as the system will automatically start creating them when you replace them; the only way to ensure that you don't have invalid extensions cached is to delete the cache before rebooting.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 171
Total answers/comments: 1
Guest [Entry]

"Well, after delving into some of Apple's open-source code, I have solved this issue (at least for Snow Leopard). By issuing the following command:

launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.kextd.plist

You can update kernel extensions, delete their cache file(s), and reboot; the extension caches will be re-created at boot time. I still need to test this for Leopard, but for Snow Leopard it works just fine."