# Something odd running on my machine...

5 June 2003 · Ray Slakinski

I woke up this morning and my system was running a little sluggish, turns out that this:

root 25226 0.0 0.3 14444 988 ?? SNs 7:22AM 0:00.22 /usr/libexec/fix\_prebinding

is taking up valuable system resources. I know what prebindings are in terms of OSX, but why is fix\_prebindings being run? and why have I not noticed it until now?

any thoughts? 'cuz I'm at a loss on this one.

UPDATE:\
Sometimes typing "man fix\_prebinding" is all the help you need

***Description**\
fix\_prebinding is a daemon for correcting out-of-date prebinding hints in\
binaries. fix\_prebinding is launched on demand by mach\_init in response\
to messages from dyld that an application could not be launched correctly\
prebound. fix\_prebinding examines each binary and library for correct\
prebinding hints; if any are found to be out of date, the hints are\
updated and the file is changed.*

*These hints are used by the dynamic loader to launch processes prebound,\
eliminating the need to look up dynamically linked symbols. If these\
hints are out-of-date, the dynamic linker instead must lookup referenced\
symbols. As a result, the application may launch from 10-30% slower.

fix\_prebinding is primarily intended for applications not installed via\
Apple's Installer. Files that are installed via drag-and-drop would have\
incorrect prebinding hints for the current system, so fix\_prebinding\
instead can touch the binaries up on first or second launch. Future\
launches will be faster because of the correct hints. Only binaries on\
the current root volume will be re-prebound. Mach-O binaries installed\
via the Installer would be touched up during the "Optimizing System Per-\
formance" phase of installation, and would normally not cause fix\_pre-\
binding to be invoked.*

*If update\_prebinding is running, fix\_prebinding will ignore any re-pre-\
binding notifications.\*