Should this document exist/be here after I install a VPN tunnel?

Technophobe · #1 February 9th, 2008, 11:45 AM

I recently installed a VPN tunnel app from a company (secure-tunnel.com). The software seems to run stably and no complaints on that front. However, a couple days after i installed it and had been using the software and the service i noticed a document file where one had not before entitled nohup.out . The doc is located on the boot partition of my hard drive where the app/lib/sys/user folders are located. Having virtually zero knowledge of UNIX (apologies for my ignorance here), my question is, is this no access document proper to exist here or did i pick up some malware or other?

If any on can help me with advice, thank you much,

—Technophobe

ElDiabloConCaca · #2 February 9th, 2008, 12:26 PM

The "nohup.out" seems to be an output log file of the UNIX command "nohup", which allows certain processes to continue running even when the user logs out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nohup

I doubt very seriously that it's a virus or malware, and the fact that it's not deletable could mean that the process using it is still running. It could very well be a byproduct of the VPN/secure tunnel software, since some Googling around lead me to read some articles on a piece of software called "AlmostVPN" and the nohup.out file on Mac OS X.

It seems to be a plain-text file, so you could try opening it with TextEdit or your favorite text editor and seeing what's inside.

Technophobe · #3 February 9th, 2008, 12:42 PM

I guess the documant must have been created by AlmostVPN Pro which is what i'm using. I read a few articles/boards that i could find doing searches and it seems as though it'll be okay if i leave it. However, i saw one board where someone said they were going to just delete the document and "see what happens". This idea rather chills me to the bone as i don't presently have another drive to backup to if a reinstall of Mac OS 10.4.12 is needed if i were to do that. Can anyone tell me with any confidence that it would be okay to delete this document? And i was wondering as well, if i delete it and it turns out it's required by AlmostVPN Pro, will the app just create a new nohup.out doc to use when the app is restarted?

—Technophobe

ElDiabloConCaca · #4 February 9th, 2008, 01:56 PM

That's not a file used by Mac OS X; at least, not for everyday operation. I am sure you could delete the file and leave Mac OS X unaffected.

I would assume that AlmostVPN Pro would simply recreate the file if it weren't there. It doesn't seem to be a file that's detrimental to the operation of AlmostVPN -- it seems it's more of a log file.

Technophobe · #5 February 9th, 2008, 02:29 PM

Again, thank you ElDiabloConCaca for your sage counsel. I'll go ahead and delete the doc, if worse comes to worse i'll just uninstall AlmostVPN Pro and reinstall it if it has problems working after removal. It's greatly eased my mind just knowing that it won't affect the OS. I'm new to this forum and already in the span of a few hours i've learned so much just from reading the posts i can barely believe it! =)

mvcube · #6 March 22nd, 2008, 06:34 PM

The file nohup.out will be recreated, as soon as you restart the software. As ElDiabloConCaca has already stated above, it is the redirected (terminal) output of an executable started by the "nohup" shell command. The software you have installed seems to use a shell script for startup. The nohup command line should be changed to something like "nohup whatever 2>&1 >/tmp/outfile.txt" which redirects both standard output and error files to e new file in the temporary system directory.