Are resource forks still used?

a11en · 02-10-2006, 12:42 AM

Hi guys,

Simple question here, which actually goes to some of the problem regarding my rsync question posted below in this forum.

Are resource forks really still used? rsync originally never supported resource forks at all... apple patched that in Tiger, my understanding, and there is some sort of support of them in the Tiger rsync. BUT- my general nooB understanding is that rsync in general will support data files and therefore pretty much everything in the os X system (that doesn't have a resource fork).

[Correct the above if I'm wrong, please!!]

So, this begs the question. Assuming the above is correct... are there any files or programs that still use resource forks anymore? Assuming I only use osX apps and system, etc., should I be worried about resource forks in this day and age?

Thanks ahead of time for all your excellent help, guys!!
-Allen

ps- the reason this is in the unix forum is that I'm primarily concerned with this question in regards to CLI tools... like scp, rsync, these types of programs!

hayne · 02-10-2006, 01:45 AM

Yes - lots of OS X apps use resource forks for storing metadata.
As a general rule, Cocoa apps don't use resource forks. But many Carbon apps do. One app that you might have heard of that uses resource forks a lot is "Finder".

If you use Finder's File/Get Info to change the file association for one particular file, that info is stored in a resource fork.

See this recent thread about stripping resource forks:
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=269408

breen · 02-10-2006, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hayne


	One app that you might have heard of that uses resource forks a lot is "Finder".[/url]

And there's my chuckle for the morning...

Very good, Hayne

AHunter3 · 02-10-2006, 11:16 AM

Some OSX-native apps still have their own resource forks, without which they won't function properly. I have Microsoft Excel (ver. 10.1.5 from Office X, admittedly not the latest & greatest from Redmond but definitely an OSX-native app). If you right-click it, there's no "Display Package Contents" in the CM 'cuz it's not a package. It's an old-fashioned Macintosh application, and if you cue up good ol' ResEdit in the Classic environment and point it at Excel, guess what?

hayne · 02-10-2006, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AHunter3


	I have Microsoft Excel (ver. 10.1.5 from Office X, admittedly not the latest & greatest from Redmond but definitely an OSX-native app). If you right-click it, there's no "Display Package Contents" in the CM 'cuz it's not a package. It's an old-fashioned Macintosh application, and if you cue up good ol' ResEdit in the Classic environment and point it at Excel, guess what?

Indeed, many if not most of the older (existed in OS 9) apps have resource forks in their "executable".
There's an easier way to see this. In a Terminal window, run the command:

ls -l "/Applications/Microsoft Office X/Excel/..namedfork/rsrc"
(change the path to that of the app you want to examine)

For the 10.1.6 version of Excel (AHunter3: you may wish to update - I think there were security problems fixed in the 10.1.6 update), the above command shows me that the resource fork is 3.7 MB.

frankko · 02-10-2006, 11:51 AM

Resource forks are still used for most fonts (Mac TrueType and Mac PostScript). OpenType fonts don't use resource forks, though.

a11en · 02-10-2006, 03:37 PM

Wow!! I'm learning tons!! Who knew!?! Thanks!!!

-Allen

02-10-2006, 12:42 AM	#1
a11en Triple-A Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 71	Are resource forks still used? Hi guys, Simple question here, which actually goes to some of the problem regarding my rsync question posted below in this forum. Are resource forks really still used? rsync originally never supported resource forks at all... apple patched that in Tiger, my understanding, and there is some sort of support of them in the Tiger rsync. BUT- my general nooB understanding is that rsync in general will support data files and therefore pretty much everything in the os X system (that doesn't have a resource fork). [Correct the above if I'm wrong, please!!] So, this begs the question. Assuming the above is correct... are there any files or programs that still use resource forks anymore? Assuming I only use osX apps and system, etc., should I be worried about resource forks in this day and age? Thanks ahead of time for all your excellent help, guys!! -Allen ps- the reason this is in the unix forum is that I'm primarily concerned with this question in regards to CLI tools... like scp, rsync, these types of programs!

02-10-2006, 01:45 AM	#2
hayne Site Admin Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 32,473	Yes - lots of OS X apps use resource forks for storing metadata. As a general rule, Cocoa apps don't use resource forks. But many Carbon apps do. One app that you might have heard of that uses resource forks a lot is "Finder". If you use Finder's File/Get Info to change the file association for one particular file, that info is stored in a resource fork. See this recent thread about stripping resource forks: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=269408 __________________ hayne.net/macosx.html

02-10-2006, 11:16 AM	#4
AHunter3 Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 3,032	Some OSX-native apps still have their own resource forks, without which they won't function properly. I have Microsoft Excel (ver. 10.1.5 from Office X, admittedly not the latest & greatest from Redmond but definitely an OSX-native app). If you right-click it, there's no "Display Package Contents" in the CM 'cuz it's not a package. It's an old-fashioned Macintosh application, and if you cue up good ol' ResEdit in the Classic environment and point it at Excel, guess what? Attached Thumbnails

02-10-2006, 11:51 AM	#6
frankko All Star Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York, NY Posts: 587	Resource forks are still used for most fonts (Mac TrueType and Mac PostScript). OpenType fonts don't use resource forks, though.

02-10-2006, 03:37 PM	#7
a11en Triple-A Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 71	Wow!! I'm learning tons!! Who knew!?! Thanks!!! -Allen