Troubleshooting Suitcase X1 (#2): Deleting .lst files, caches for proper operation

Yesterday we noted a number of issues with Suitcase X1 under Mac OS X 10.3.x ranging from an inability to properly preview fonts, to application crashes.

Joe Schram, who has been battling Suitcase font auto-activation issues since Mac OS X 10.2, offers a workaround that has worked for several of his clients:

1. Quit all programs except the Finder.
2. Open Suitcase's main window and deactivate all non-system fonts.
3. Quit Suitcase.
4. Do a Finder search for any files ending with ".lst" in the filename. Delete as many as your user permissions will allow.
5. Run Cocktail (shareware utility) to Repair Permissions, Delete all Cache files, and auto restart. Another way to do the same thing is to Repair Permissions from Disk Utility, then Delete all Cache file using Panther Cache Cleaner (shareware utility). Then Restart the computer.
6. When the user logs back in, 95% of the time, the problems are gone. Adobe apps work properly and Suitcase previews all fonts correctly. In the remaining 10% of the cases, we'll delete all the Suitcase preference files first, then repeat steps 1-5. After rebooting, the user will then have to re-add their font set the the Suitcase database, but so far adding the extra step has always worked if the first run-through did not.

Schram adds "Apparently, activating and deactivating multiple fonts beyond some unknown and inconsistent threshold causes the operating system to become unable to release or add further font information in memory. The font cache files for the user and the system become corrupted, causing application crashes, the 'hundreds and hundreds of blank preview squares' in Suitcase, and other Suitcase display glitches. The only solution I have found is to delete these files and have the operating system regenerate them."

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