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extended attributes

From resource forks to quarantine, ResEdit to Gatekeeper

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ResEdit changed what was in the resource fork. With Mac OS X, Apple moved away from forks to extended attributes, now used for quarantine flags and more.

December 27, 2022 Macs, Technology

Inside Apple Archive: more than a compression format

Provided in Archive Utility and three command tools, its LZFSE compression even supports APFS special files like clones and sparse files.

May 10, 2022 Macs, Technology

Explainer: Quarantine

Quarantine flags first appeared in 2007. This explains how they work, what they do, and the differences between app and document quarantine.

December 11, 2021 Macs, Technology

Explainer: Disk free space

Confused by this on APFS? So you should be, as it’s complicated by features like snapshots, sparse files, and the file system itself. There’s no single figure.

December 4, 2021 Macs, Technology

Copying a Mac volume to another file system (and back)

Tired of HFS+? Disenchanted by APFS? Why not copy or back up to a different file system? Here are crocodiles waiting to bite you.

November 25, 2021 Macs, Technology

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

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