Script that removes all plugins on Mac except "AU"

[isuckatproducing]

If you run Ableton, it shows in the preferences where the VST plugins (or AU) are installed. In many cases those plugins are not that big so it's marginal what is achieved, with the addition of a cleaner selection of plugins in Ableton.

I had like 5-10GB of plugins in formats I don't use, and all the plugins that I use don't require VST to work.

[tumface]

If you have a plugin that saves a present with the name 'rm rf /' in it in one of those plugin directories (like some older VST2 plugins do) then the script ~~will~~ (edit: could, depending on links) erase your hard drive. Throw the whole thing away. The AI is not a person and it is lying to you. You don't know how to tell it is screwing you. Do not trust it. If you trust it anyway, at least don't spread it to other people who also can't tell.

[tumface]

Pro Tools Impact
Pro Tools (now Avid) installs to /Applications/Pro Tools.app, not those /Library/Application Support/Avid/ or /Digidesign/ folders – those are just old plugin/support dirs you can safely zap if you're not using it. No destruction there.

AI bullshit. That directory may contain any support files needed at all for Pro Tools, not the app bundle. I'm not going to bother replying to this anymore. You can keep clicking the generate BS button but I'm having to spend my real life writing replies.

[isuckatproducing]

If you have a plugin that saves a present with the name 'rm rf /' in it in one of those plugin directories (like some older VST2 plugins do) then the script will erase your hard drive. Throw the whole thing away. The AI is not a person and it is lying to you. You don't know how to tell it is screwing you. Do not trust it. If you trust it anyway, at least don't spread it to other people who also can't tell.

I'm confused, are you saying something might save a preset named "rm rf /" inside the folder?

[isuckatproducing]

Also, for the love of god, please stop trusting AIs.

Same goes for humans, a lot of BS advice out there given from humans.
I don't trust anything/anyone.

[isuckatproducing]

I posted it all into ChatGPT and it seems to have a different opinion than Perplexity, it gave me supposedly safer script.

What do you think of this one?

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

folders_to_remove=(
"/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST"
"/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3"
"/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP"
"/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/MAS"
"$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST"
"$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3"
"$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP"
"$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/MAS"
"/Library/Application Support/Avid"
"/Library/Application Support/Digidesign"
)

is_safe_path() {
local path="$1"
realpath "$path" | grep -E "^(/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins|$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins|/Library/Application Support)" >/dev/null
}

for folder in "${folders_to_remove[@]}"; do

if [ ! -e "$folder" ]; then
echo "Not found: $folder"
continue
fi

# Reject if the top-level target itself is a symlink
if [ -L "$folder" ]; then
echo "SKIPPING symlink: $folder"
continue
fi

resolved=$(realpath "$folder")

# Boundary enforcement
if ! is_safe_path "$resolved"; then
echo "BLOCKED (outside allowed paths): $resolved"
continue
fi

echo "Deleting safely: $resolved"

# Remove contents but never follow symlinks
find "$resolved" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -exec sudo rm -rf --one-file-system {} +

# Remove the directory itself
sudo rmdir "$resolved" 2>/dev/null || true

done

[tumface]

If you have a plugin that saves a present with the name 'rm rf /' in it in one of those plugin directories (like some older VST2 plugins do) then the script will erase your hard drive. Throw the whole thing away. The AI is not a person and it is lying to you. You don't know how to tell it is screwing you. Do not trust it. If you trust it anyway, at least don't spread it to other people who also can't tell.

I'm confused, are you saying something might save a preset named "rm rf /" inside the folder?

Yes, it's unlikely but possible for something to go wrong like that, if one of the directories is symlinked to somewhere weird. I realized afterword it would also have to resolve via the tilde expansion, not just the file name, since it's iterating a fixed list, not iterating the top level inside of the folders. I think this is OK for you to run on your own but I wouldn't give it to other people -- you don't know what their system is set up like.

[tumface]

I posted it all into ChatGPT and it seems to have a different opinion than Perplexity, it gave me supposedly safer script.

What do you think of this one?

That seems safer at first glance, but I don't know what all of those arguments to 'find' do or how realpath works on Darwin. It would take me a long time to make sure it's OK. I would not give out scripts that mass delete files to other users on the internet unless you are 100% sure they are OK and you've tested them a bunch in different environments, OS versions, etc. Especially would not trust anything generated by an AI.

[Gamma-UT]

Every once in a while, I go into the AAX folder and delete all the plugins. Far less heartache that way than relying on a script that itself only needs to be run once in a while but which may trash something useful.

[tumface]

The script also deletes stuff immediately instead of putting it in the Trash, which could allow you to recover it if needed. It's just not great in a lot of ways. These AI things tend to be like an endless tar pit of "just let me fix it a little more" and you end up spending way more time than doing yourself, even though it felt you were being productive.

[isuckatproducing]

I posted it all into ChatGPT and it seems to have a different opinion than Perplexity, it gave me supposedly safer script.

What do you think of this one?

That seems safer at first glance, but I don't know what all of those arguments to 'find' do or how realpath works on Darwin. It would take me a long time to make sure it's OK. I would not give out scripts that mass delete files to other users on the internet unless you are 100% sure they are OK and you've tested them a bunch in different environments, OS versions, etc. Especially would not trust anything generated by an AI.

I've just tested new version and works perfectly.

I have a longer version for personal use that also deletes other stuff, and I've a zsh alias so it's very handy instead of doing it manually.

I also have a TimeMachine backup as should everyone in case things go south.

Anyway I will remove the script to avoid possible damage if someone has some weird configuration.

[tumface]

If you can verify it works safely for yourself before using it on your real installation, I think it's OK to use script generators like this. Just don't trust what it says -- it's not a person, it can spit out whatever nonsense at a moment's notice. My reason for pointing out the ways it can go wrong is that you don't know what other people's computers are set up like. And when "delete a bunch of files" scripts go wrong, they can go *really wrong* really quickly, before you can react and stop them.

[sockofgold]

Also, for the love of god, please stop trusting AIs.

I mean I'm not going to learn bash to do a simple script, is the below true?

Good grief I wish this were satire. Dude, if you're not willing to even TRY to learn what the code an AI is giving you does, at least have the decency not to tell other people to blindly run it.

[isuckatproducing]

Also, for the love of god, please stop trusting AIs.

I mean I'm not going to learn bash to do a simple script, is the below true?

Good grief I wish this were satire. Dude, if you're not willing to even TRY to learn what the code an AI is giving you does, at least have the decency not to tell other people to blindly run it.

Dude I know basics of programming, but learning Bash and writing code that is 100% secure is another thing. You have no clue how much programs/websites have laughable security and other flaws.

Even Google software could botch whole Linux installs.

Not even going to mention Windows...

[ksandvik]

rm -rf is one of the most dangerous commands to script, if you miss a cd to a path and you stay in another direction, like your home dir, ho ho, bye bye your unprotected files. I would stay away from this script. Just use normal Finder commands to find files and delete them (to Trash).