What is OpenBase and do I need it?

Question: Every so often, a window appears announcing that OpenBase is updating my files. Is this a good thing? Should I find and delete OpenBase?

OpenBase is an industrial strength SQL-based database  tool that is used by some Mac OS applications to store, retrieve, and search information (Wikipedia OpenBase article).

You can find out where OpenBase is installed on your system by running the following command in a Terminal window:

locate OpenBase

It might be getting started up via an entry under one of the following directories:

/Library/StartupItems 
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

OpenBase may have been installed by an older application called StickyBrain which was a replacement for Apple’s Sticky Notes. It is also used as the backend database for Daylite from Marketcircle and LightSpeed POS (Point of Sale) solution from Xsilva . So if you’re continuing to use ANY of these applications (or some unknown application that may need OpenBase), it would be very wise to NOT remove OpenBase.

Otherwise, you may be able to remove it and save on some system resources. Some people report faster performance…especially if multiple instances of OpenBase are open and running. (You’d see this in the Apple “Activity Monitor” application.) If you are unsure of what application might have installed or is using OpenBase, DO NOT remove OpenBase unless you have completed a recent full backup of your entire hard drive with SuperDuper! See my important backup article for some tips.

If you are very sure of what you’re doing and you want to remove all traces of OpenBase, then open the Mac OS Terminal and type the following:

sudo /Library/OpenBase/bin/RemoveOpenBaseScript

Please, if you’re at all squeemish about doing any of these things, let someone help you out so you don’t break something…and backup first!