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extended attributes

Spotlight on search: Search and you might be lucky

Details the contents of files which are built into Spotlight’s index, its reliance on keys, how apps can perform Spotlight searches, and the three bundled tools for users.

January 29, 2021 Macs, Technology

How to move Apple Installers around via AirDrop

AirDrop is very convenient, but sets the quarantine flag, which can break Apple’s installer apps. Here’s how to remove those flags in a couple of minutes.

November 21, 2020 Macs, Technology

Extended attributes as a vulnerability

Thirty years ago, many Macs were hit by the Wdef virus, which exploited a vulnerability which remains today: it travelled in an extended attribute. Should we be worried now?

November 7, 2020 Macs, Technology

Finder Comments: worth avoiding

So convenient to use – edit them in the Comments: section of Finder’s Get Info dialog. But as reliable as loose scraps of paper, and as easily lost.

November 6, 2020 Macs, Technology

Controlling metadata: Tricks with persistence

Unlike file data, metadata has varying persistence. Some is ephemeral, others sticky. macOS has inbuilt mechanisms for managing the persistence of extended attributes.

November 2, 2020 Macs, Technology

Quarantine and the quarantine flag

Most quarantine flags in your Mac aren’t on apps but documents. Details of how they’re added, what info they contain, and what they do.

October 29, 2020 Macs, Technology

There’s more to files than data: Extended Attributes

All about xattrs: their origin, where they’re stored, how they’re named and typed, how to find and work with them, and their common problems.

October 24, 2020 Macs, Technology

cmpxat, a command tool to compare extended attributes, now a Universal binary

The equivalent of cmp, only it works on extended attributes rather than file data.

September 3, 2020 Macs, Technology, Updates

SearchKey and SearchKeyLite versions 1.4 are Universal Apps

T T Read More

Tools for editing metadata which is generally well-preserved, including copyright and keywords. Now native on all Macs.

August 25, 2020 Macs, Technology, Updates

Metamer version 1.1 is now a Universal App

T T Read More

Lightweight metadata editor now runs native on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

August 12, 2020 Macs, Technology, Updates

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