cloning back from Sandbox
 

Both for info in a post and from the docs, it seems possible to clone back from the Sandbox, by selecting "Backup - all files" and "Smart Update".

I've been doing this to save time so I don't need to apply all the changes to Macintosh HD that I had applied to the Sandbox.

From time to time, I'd install a new app, and I'd install it to the Macintosh HD Applications folder, and then make an alias to it in the Sandbox's Application folder. To my dismay, when I cloned back from Sandbox to Macintosh HD, what I got were copies of the aliases!

So, do I understand this right about how SD! works when cloning back from a Sandbox using "Backup - all files" and "Smart Update":

1. When SD! encounters the symlinks in the Sandbox Application folder, it does NOT copy the symlinks but leaves the corresponding real app in the Mac HD App folder alone
2. When SD! encounters one of the manually created aliases I created in the Sandbox App folder, it merrily copies the alias, overwriting the corresponding application in the Mac HD folder

Do I have this correct? That seems to be what occurred this evening.

You certainly shouldn't: we will not copy a symlink over a file that the link is pointing to, unless you accidentally used one of the Sandbox scripts.

Thanks for your reply. This suggests that my "brilliant" solution for how to handle installs of new apps when running off of the Sandbox was sorely lacking.

Not at all: I do this all the time. Install to the Sandbox and copy back -- but you have to use the right script and copy method or it won't work as you'd expect... that's why there are so many warnings.

Right. But my "brilliant" solution in the past was to install to the Sandbox, copy to Mac HD, and then make a manual alias to the Sandbox. This does NOT work, because I didn't really understand what "cloning back" did. Now I do (or at least I do better...), so I should be installing only to the Sandbox and then cloning back (observing the warnings...including, but not limited to (paraphrasing here...): If you don't want to tempt fate, be sure to BACKUP your main volume before cloning back!!

Absolutely correct.