Re: Forked files and Shrinkit

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Mark Percival <mark.REMOVE.percival@videotron.ca> wrote:

> On Mon, 10 Jul 2000, Eric Shepherd <sheppy@sheppyware.net> wrote:
> 
> >I don't know what ProType is. :)
> 
> ProType is a program that sets the proper filetype and auxtype based
> on the extension.  eg: Any file ending in .shk get's set to PDOS with
> type $e0 and aux $8002. 

OK so far.

> Then MacOS drops the resource fork when copying to ProDOS.

Not exactly.

If the filetype and creator have been set to a recognised ProDOS
combination (or the file is type 'TEXT' with any creator), AND the file
has a zero length resource fork, then the file will end up being a
standard file when copied to a ProDOS volume, and will be accessible
from ProDOS-8.

If the file type or creator can't be represented in ProDOS, or if the
file already has a resource fork, then the file will end up being an
extended file when copied to a ProDOS volume, and will only be
accessible from GS/OS (or the Mac).

An extended file on a ProDOS volume doesn't necessarily have a resource
fork: it might just have a single extra block (the "extended key
block"), which contains the extra Macintosh directory information,
including the Mac file type and creator.

ProType ensures that the file type and creator obey ProDOS rules, but it
doesn't do anything about an already existing resource fork.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P O Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand