Re: NSFileManager - isExecutableFileAtPath - seems to lie
Re: NSFileManager - isExecutableFileAtPath - seems to lie
- Subject: Re: NSFileManager - isExecutableFileAtPath - seems to lie
- From: Diggory Laycock <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2002 00:54:07 +0100
Thank you very much for such a full answer! much appreciated.
Launch Services & creator codes turned out to be ideal for my purposes.
On Friday, July 5, 2002, at 05:40 pm, Douglas Davidson wrote:
>
> Does anyone have any idea of how to accurately identify a path as an
>
> application?
>
>
There are a number of subtle and slightly different notions we are
>
dealing with here. First, there is the filesystem execute permission
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bit, which is what NSFileManager deals with. This is pretty much
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useless as an indication of the type of a file; for one thing, there
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are a number of broken tools which set large numbers of permission bits
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for arbitrary files, so the permission to execute does not by any means
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imply the ability to do so. Also, the execute permission bit for
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directories refers to permission to search, not permission to execute.
>
>
Second, there is the notion of a file being of an executable type,
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which again is not a simple question. Among files that could
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reasonably be called executables, the most obvious are Mach-o files,
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which include standalone executables, shared libraries, Mach-o bundle
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files, object files, etc. There are also PEF executables, which are
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not directly executable by the kernel, but can be executed using CFM;
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these include standalone executables, shared libraries, and plugins.
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There are also shell scripts, some of which are directly executable,
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and interpreted executables of other types, such as Java code
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(sometimes in a .jar), Applescripts, and so forth.
>
>
Finally, there is the question of applications, which is an entirely
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different matter. There are many executables (e.g., the files in
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/usr/bin or /usr/libexec) which could not reasonably be called
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applications; most applications, on the other hand, are bundled, and so
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are themselves directory hierarchies which contain one or more
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executable files.
>
>
Fortunately, for the purposes of presentation to the user, there is a
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fairly well-defined notion of an application. Like most notions having
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to do with presenting the filesystem to the user, it is defined by
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Launch Services, and that is the place you should look.
>
>
Douglas Davidson
>
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>
Diggory Laycock
-----------------------
http://www.diggory.net
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