Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › OSx86 Core & 10.X › DSDT editing tips
19,753 reads · 2009-09-02 – 2009-09-26
Dossier 10.X Core DSDT

DSDT editing tips

EDITING I wanted to share a DSDT editing tip with everyone. Since these files are thousands of lines long it drives me crazy trying to edit everything. BareBones software makes BBEdit. You can download a free 30 day trial so get all your…

Primary Author
@kDawg Published 2009-09-02
Collection
OSx86 Core & 10.X
Archival Footprint
19,753 historical reads · 2 curated field notes (from 5 dispatches) · 2009-09-02 – 2009-09-26
Credited Voices (3)
@kDawg (2)@EnzoFX (2)@Snow

EDITING

I wanted to share a DSDT editing tip with everyone. Since these files are thousands of lines long it drives me crazy trying to edit everything. BareBones software makes BBEdit. You can download a free 30 day trial so get all your DSDT editing done in 30 days.
bare bones.com/products/bbedit/

This app lets you "fold" sections of code so what you end up with is a very readable file when completely folded.

Open your DSDT.dsl file in the menu goto Edit>Text Options

Select the ActionScript profile because the DSDT closely resembles AS. Don't worry it won't affect your file or change the extension on you. This is strictly for syntax coloring and folding.

Folded:

Unfolded:

NICE! Now can actually start to see the hierarchy this way. If only the free TextWrangler offered folding. Can't have everything. I'll expand this thread with other tips I've found helpful. Such as finding any PCI address with gfxutil, the references I use and more.

COMPARING DSDTs

BBEdit has a built in compare feature. You can access it via contextual menu:

Or via search menu:

Another great FREE compare utility is called DiffMerge. This does a better job at comparing two or more documents at the same time but since the majority of my time is spent in BBEdit I just use BBEdit's built in feature.
sourc egear.com/diffmerge/

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @kDawg

Author Update #1 @kDawg 2009-09-04

The DSDT is what it is. It wont change when you turn those settings off.

Synthesized Community Field Notes

2 technical responses curated from 5 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @EnzoFX 2009-09-04

In BIOS, I disable all legacy ports, i.e. printer, serial, ps/2, etc. But my dsdt.aml file has them all included. Could this cause some sort of conflict?

Maybe I should edit my dsdt with those things off, but the thought of going through that thing and being ever so careful still seems daunting... Thanks for the tip however.

Field Note #2 @EnzoFX 2009-09-26

Any tips on how to remove my injected GFX from my dsdt? I want to switch back to EFI string for GFX, seeing as it might fix a graphical lag issue I have with Spaces related animations. (Though it might be OS X, or maybe my card "incompatibility"?)

Corroborated & Participated: @Snow
Sources & Contributor Provenance (3 credited usernames · Thread #3900)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@kDawgPrimary Author22009-09-02 → 2009-09-04
@EnzoFXContributor22009-09-04 → 2009-09-26
@SnowContributor12009-09-05