On Aug 4, 2005, at 8:02 AM, Brian Mahoney wrote:
In a local computer advertising/information mag, one of the writers
has a continuous column on switching from pcs to a mac using OS X.
In the latest installment, he comments on the 'shadow' files that
begin with "._" which are evident when transferring files from a
mac to a pc. I know they are there when I switch files but he
comments that " Mac OS hides them, but win dows doesn't." Does Mac
OS even have those files at all or do they stem from the transfer
from mac to pc? Is there a setting which will get rid of them, a
tweak on the mac side maybe? The files are all small and don't seem
to relate to wind ows in any way but they are a pin. My opinion is
that they aren't on the Mac sideand I'd like to correct the writer.
If I'm wrong, of course, I will just shut up! :) Thanks.
Sorry, they are indeed Mac files. This is all information that used
to be stored in the old, hidden desktop files in OS 9 and lower.
OS X creates .DS_Store files at the root of every folder. This stores
the view metadata for the Finder for that folder (icon, list, column
and background image location, if any).
There is a .Trashes directory at the root of every volume, which is
the Trash Can for that volume, and ._<filename> which corresponds to
the resource fork of executable Carbon files.
For example, this is the directory listing of one of my USB sticks:
(you can see these files in Terminal)
dbdev2:/Volumes/UNTITLED johnson$ ls -al
total 48904
drwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 16384 Aug 4 09:19 .
drwxrwxrwt 11 root admin 374 Aug 4 09:16 ..
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 12292 Aug 4 09:20 .DS_Store
drwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 4096 Jul 14 12:07 .Trashes
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 82 Jul 20 10:19 ._Firefox
Setup 1.0.6.exe
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 219301 Apr 20 15:35 ._Remote
Desktop Connection
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 82 Jul 20 10:20 ._Thunderbird
Setup 1.0.6.exe
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 82 May 25 11:44 ._UofA_RU.exe
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 82 Apr 29
10:44 ._aawsepersonal.exe
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 82 Apr 29 08:56 ._spybotsd13.exe
drwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 4096 Jul 1 09:49 Fiery XP drivers
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 4876472 Jul 20 09:30 Firefox Setup
1.0.6.exe
drwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 4096 Jun 14 16:08 PE Builder
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 708638 Apr 20 15:35 Remote Desktop
Connection
drwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 8192 Apr 29 15:37 SAV32CLI
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 6035272 Jul 20 09:33 Thunderbird
Setup 1.0.6.exe
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 6103202 May 25 11:38 UofA_RU.exe
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 2636408 Apr 29 10:44 aawsepersonal.exe
-rwxrwxrwx 1 johnson johnson 4354084 Apr 29 08:56 spybotsd13.exe
As you can see, it's mostly PC applications (it's my spyware fixer.)
Note all the ._<filename> files are small, 82 bytes, except for the
one ._Remote Desktop Connection.
That's because that's a Mac Carbon application (you can tell because
the program Remote Desktop Connection is a file, not a directory
named Remote Desktop Connection.app) Note, even though files like
spybotsd13.exe don't HAVE a resource fork, one is created for them by
the Mac.
Generally these files can be deleted without harm, although in the
case of Mac applications, removing the ._Remote Desktop Connection
file will prevent the program from working.
These do nothing on the Windows machine except take up space, and
confuse PC folks who click on the ._<filename> file instead of the
real one. Because Microsoft has their heads so far up their nether
regions, programming-wise, this DOES cause problems for folks using
Office, since, contrary to Apple programming guidelines since the
days of OS 4, Microsoft has INSISTED on attaching a resource fork to
EVERY <BLEEP> Word document, even though it's as useful a gills on an
oak tree, so these ._ files get created by Word, and that DOES cause
no end of confusion, because Mail.app treats them propely according
to the MIME rules, and includes MyWordDoc and ._MyWordDoc as two
separate files.
Some lazily programmed mail clients, especially some web-based ones,
see these two attachments, and decide to only show the ._MyWordDoc
version to recipients. Since that file doesn't contain anything of
use, the recipient goes 'Damn Mac Users! Can't even send a Word file
right!!!' This is why Mail soon sprouted the 'Send Windows-safe
attachments' option.
If all the programmer man-hours that have gone into getting around
the flaws in MS products, had instead gone into newer stuff, we'd
have flying cars, robot maids and holographic displays today, I swear.
I have found a way of preventing these files from being created on
Samba shares on Unix systems, but not on Windows systems.
At least you read about it in a magazine.
When my boss first saw these he very nearly shut our whole network
down, thinking we'd been hacked, massively, since he saw them all
over the Unix AND Windows file servers...
--
Bruce Johnson
This is the sig who says 'Ni!'
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