Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPod touch HOW-TO: Get around the application space limit on your Touch

S

swedishviking

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
4
0
HOW-TO: Get around the application space limit your Touch:

NOTE: This guide assumes you have jailbreaked your iPod touch and installed the necessary Unix binaries, either manually or by using some sort of semi-automated/automated jailbreak method.

WARNING: Although this seems to work just as intended, it's not been tested for more than a number of hours, meaning that it's entirely possible it could somehow break in the future. Therefore, only do this at your own risk! (Although the risk of it bricking your iPod touch is very low, since you'll most likely keep SSH access even if screwing up)

1.
SSH into your iPod touch using the SSH client of your choice; I recommend putty, which you can download at http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

2.
Move your applications folder to the /private/var folder by typing the following:

Code: 
mv /Applications /private/var/Applications

3.
Change directory to / by typing

Code: 
cd /

4.
Create a symbolic link to the Applications folders new location:

Code: 
ln -s /private/var/Applications Applications

5.
Type the following to get a directory list of /, so we can make sure the symbolic link was created correctly:

Code: 
ls -la

In the list that comes up, you should have an entry similar to this one:

Code: 
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root admin   25 Oct 12 22:31 Applications -> /private/var/Applications

6. Alright, seems like it worked.. Now all you have to do is reboot your iPod touch! Do that now.

7. To further make sure it's working correctly for you, enter the Installer app and check the available space at the bottom. It should be higher than it was previously, as you've moved away all space-intensive apps. Try installing an app larger than 1MB (MobileChat for example) to see that the amount of available space stays the same.

8. Done! Install away!
 
tyvm!!!
u finallly solved all of my problems and know i am going to get all the apps i can haha im getting a few dictionarys right now
 
Glad to hear it's working well for everyone.. the risk is pretty minimal to be honest but if you're unsure, you can do a backup of the App folder first..

Type

Code: 
cp -Rp /Applications /private/var/Applications.backup

To restore if something went wrong, type

Code: 
rm /Applications /private/var/Applications

to remove the symlink and the copied Apps folder.. then

Code: 
mv /private/var/Applications.backup /Applications

to restore the backuped Applications folder.
 
It's working fine for me, never thought of using a symlink to get around this problem. Good idea.
 
Its been like more that 24hrs now, any problem encountered for those who tried this tip?
 
Thank you!
Now...will this affect how I install future applications manually?
For example:
The install of the new Summerboard. This is now manual. So do I still follow those directions or do I have to look for a new private folder that was created due to this process.
Thanks.
 
ken987 said:
Thank you!
Now...will this affect how I install future applications manually?
For example:
The install of the new Summerboard. This is now manual. So do I still follow those directions or do I have to look for a new private folder that was created due to this process.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

This is one of the joys of unix. Just follow the instructions as posted. The symbolic link to your applications directory at /Applications will work as advertised. No need to do anything special.
 
Hmm, someone should post this method to that wiki page. It's easier to understand than what's currently there.
 
Ok, I took the plunge and use Symbolic Link. IMHO, instructions from Touchdev is more precise. But thanks to this thread, at least I got to know the tip.
 
jepaz said:
Ok, I took the plunge and use Symbolic Link. IMHO, instructions from Touchdev is more precise. But thanks to this thread, at least I got to know the tip.
Click to expand...

More precise? Mine isn't exactly hard to understand or do y'know, it's even shorter than the Touchdev one.. ;) Just a few commands to execute and you're done. Doesn't even require reading, just executing the commands through putty.

I could even have shortened my version to just half the amount of steps but wanted to explain a litte more with each step.
 
jepaz said:
Ok, I took the plunge and use Symbolic Link. IMHO, instructions from Touchdev is more precise. But thanks to this thread, at least I got to know the tip.
Click to expand...

more precise maybe but harder to understand unless you've used a unix prompt before.
 
does this alter how the folders r gonna be setup in sftp after i do this? this is all doe by just simply sshing and copy and pasting every step right? but mainly does this alter how my folders are setup in sftp? or change anything else like that?
 
adamman41 said:
does this alter how the folders r gonna be setup in sftp after i do this? this is all doe by just simply sshing and copy and pasting every step right? but mainly does this alter how my folders are setup in sftp? or change anything else like that?
Click to expand...

Not really no.. You'd access the Applications folder as you normally do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back