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Opening the /Applications folder from Finder I can see it contains the ootb Apple app TextEdit.app.

Yet running ls -alh /Applications from a terminal does not list the TextEdit.app.

Dragging TextEdit.app from Finder into the terminal inserts a path of /System/Applications/TextEdit.app (on MacOS Ventura 13.0.1).

Question: Is /Applications a regular folder like any other or is it some kind of overlay of multiple folders which only appears to be a regular folder? How is this called and where is it documented?

I discovered this behavior after noticing that some ootb Apple apps stopped appearing in the Spotlight search, and then tracked it down to having added /System under Settings > Siri & Spotlight > Spotlight Privacy > [excluded folders]. I assumed it makes no sense to include the entire /System folder into spotlight indexing yet this appears to have this kind of side effects.

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Is /Applications a regular folder like any other or is it some kind of werewolf overlay of multiple folders which only appears to be a regular folder? How is this called and where is it documented?

The Macintosh HD volume is actually two separate volumes. One is the "Signed System Volume", which is a read-only, secure volume containing the OS. This includes Apple-created apps that are bundled with the OS, like Preview, TextEdit, etc.

The other volume is called "Macintosh HD - Data", and contains all your stuff: your apps, your user accounts, temp files, /usr/local, and so on.

The Finder does indeed portray these two volumes as one merged volume, so that you see your third-party installed apps in the same folder as TextEdit, even though they are separate.

The advantage of the split is that the OS is entirely untouched by user activity. So, to do a 'clean install', you no longer need to erase the OS and reinstall it: you can just wipe the Data volume, and you have a 'factory' state disk. If the OS volume is altered, then it won't boot and must be reinstalled.

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    It's the Finder that portrays these two volumes as one merged volume. In the Terminal, ls /Applications only shows unsealed apps.
    – lhf
    Commented Mar 13, 2023 at 14:13
  • Indeed, /Applications and /System/Applications appear merged in Finder
    – Daryl Monge
    Commented Mar 13, 2023 at 19:22
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    What happens if two different files: one in the System Volume and the other file in the User/Data Volume share the same path?
    – Dai
    Commented Mar 14, 2023 at 1:39
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    @Dai Try it! You get two items with the same name in the Applications folder.
    – benwiggy
    Commented Mar 14, 2023 at 7:57
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    @ccpizza Yes. Other high-end user apps may follow suit, but the Terminal will show the division.
    – benwiggy
    Commented Mar 14, 2023 at 12:11

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