Re: Dot files
Re: Dot files
- Subject: Re: Dot files
- From: Christopher Nebel <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 13:59:57 -0700
On Jun 20, 2006, at 12:30 AM, Ruth Bygrave wrote:
So I'm slightly confused. What _most_ of you seem to be saying is
that the dot files are mere view data from the Finder, and can be
deleted with impunity on a flash drive that may be used cross-
platform, What some of you seem to be saying is that dot files may
contain stuff that should be part of the file, which really sounds
to me like flaky behaviour on the Mac's part, if it's true. (I'm
probably easily confused, and I'm still grateful, because I now
know more than I did, keep up the good work, chaps!)
It makes more sense when you realize that "dot files" is too general.
There are file named ".DS_Store", which you may delete with impunity
assuming that your definition of "impunity" means "I don't mind
losing Finder meta-info like view settings and comments." You can
avoid creating them in the first place (sometimes) using the magic
default mentioned earlier.
Then there are files named "._something", where "something" is the
name of a normal file in the same directory. These are trickier.
They *may* contain only meta-info -- type and creator codes, for
instance -- but depending on the application and file format, they
may contain real information. (Some applications may rely on the
meta-info as well.)
Of course, relatively few applications these days rely on the extra
fork and meta-info, precisely because of this sort of vulnerability.
So, maybe it'll be (mostly) harmless, maybe it won't. Can't really
say without knowing the specifics. Caveat emptor, YMMV, do not
attempt to operate heavy machinery after deleting them.
As for the "clanking revenant" comment (nice word choice, by the way,
even if I disagree with it), please consider this comment from Linus
Torvalds -- the complete message is at <http://www.ussg.iu.edu/
hypermail/linux/kernel/0008.1/0952.html>:
"... maybe, just maybe, UNIX didn't invent every clever idea out
there. Maybe, just maybe, resource forks are actually a good idea.
And maybe we shouldn't just say "Oh, UNIX already has directories, we
don't need no steenking resource forks".
--Chris Nebel
AppleScript Engineering
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