mac/DECISIONS.md

DECISIONS.md — mac Decision Log

Project-specific decisions. For global/cross-cutting decisions, see ~/bin/DECISIONS.md.

Format: YYYY-MM-DD: <decision> — <why>

Architecture

• 2026-09-15: Hostname mac — matches the short-lowercase machine naming (bebop, yoga); ssh mac alias already points at 192.168.0.94.
• 2026-09-15: Managed as Brewfile + idempotent scripts/setup.sh run over SSH from steel141 — seth is the console user so defaults write + killall Dock apply from SSH; GUI-only Tahoe toggles go in docs/manual-checklist.md.
• 2026-09-15: Backup = nightly launchd rsync (-a --delete) of ~/Music/Ableton + ~/Documents -> pve173:/tank/backups/mac/, with a ZFS snapshot cron on pve173 for history — rsync is transparent and Linux-familiar; the snapshot covers the --delete-mirrors-a-mistake weakness.

Implementation

• 2026-09-15: Login shell = Homebrew bash 5 (/opt/homebrew/bin/bash) — Seth's steel141 shell is bash; Apple ships bash 3.2. zsh stays installed.

• 2026-09-15: GNU coreutils/findutils/sed/grep/tar on PATH via gnubin (unprefixed) — Linux muscle memory beats BSD-compat; if a Homebrew script trips on GNU sed, fix PATH order in ~/.bash_profile, don't prefix.

• 2026-09-15: Window snapping = Rectangle — zero config; AeroSpace is the upgrade if tiling turns out to matter.

• 2026-09-15: Spotlight indexing stays on, Siri/web suggestions off — Finder search is useful; Live's browser has its own index.

• 2026-09-15: iCloud account stays, iCloud Drive Desktop&Documents sync OFF — cloud sync mid-save is a DAW project killer.

• 2026-09-15: Unattended sudo = temporary /etc/sudoers.d/mac-setup (NOPASSWD), not pty password injection. Piping the password into ssh -tt raced and hung 14 min on the real run (passed a fast test). The drop-in is validated before activation, removed on every run.sh exit path, and self-destructs on the Mac after 40 min. See run.sh / _install_sudoers.sh.

• 2026-09-15: Mac's backup key on pve173 is rrsync-restricted (command="/usr/bin/rrsync /tank/backups/mac") — a travelling laptop's key must never be unrestricted root on the tank host. Proven: an interactive command over that key is refused.

• 2026-09-15: Optional/cosmetic steps must be non-fatal under set -e. The SparkFun removal (macOS refuses) and the GUI-domain launchctl bootstrap (flaky over SSH) both aborted the run until guarded with || warn. Rule for this repo: anything that can legitimately fail without breaking the goal gets a best-effort guard.

• 2026-09-15: defaults displaysleep on AC = 30 min, not 0 — display sleep doesn't stop Live's audio; only system sleep does.

Deferred / Rejected

• 2026-09-15: Cmd<->Ctrl global swap REJECTED — Live 12 and every Mac tutorial are Cmd-native; kitty already handles Ctrl+Shift+C/V. Karabiner per-app remaps are the fallback, not a global swap.
• 2026-09-15: yabai REJECTED — useful features need partial SIP disable. SIP/Gatekeeper/FileVault all stay on.
• 2026-09-15: Time Machine REJECTED — over SMB it's fragile and whole-disk; rsync + tank-side ZFS snapshot covers the actual need.
• 2026-09-15: Removing /System/Applications apps REJECTED — sealed system volume; hide from Dock instead.
• 2026-09-15: Samples/projects on the SMB share REJECTED — local disk only; SMB is a copy source. External SSD is the capacity upgrade path.