Re: RFC: downloading info for c.s.a2 FAQ

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

Nathan Mates <nathan@visi.com> wrote:

>    And finally, just to mention it again because I've had to try and
> clean up after it so dang often, ADDING RESOURCE FORKS WITHOUT REASON.

Actually, there is a reason.

If you copy a Mac file to a ProDOS volume, the Mac needs to preserve its
file type and creator information.  To do this, it must create an
extended file, since the HFS type/creator are stored in the extended key
block.  It doesn't actually add a resource fork, just the extended key
block.  (This is sufficient to prevent ProDOS-8 from accessing the
file.)

Similar rubbish happens on MS-DOS disks.  The Mac creates hidden files
somewhere which hold the Mac file type and creator, and a hidden
RESOURCE.FRK directory to hold the resource forks.  The PC is not able
to delete this directory (short of reformatting the disk or using
special tools such as Norton Utilities to remove the hidden attribute).
It can at least delete the files within the directory.

Getting back to ProDOS disks:

If you copy a file with a creator 'pdos' and a recognised type ('TEXT'
or the encoded 'pXYZ' format, possibly others), the Mac does not need to
create an extended file (unless the file already has a non-empty
resource fork), because the ProDOS directory entry can hold the file
type and auxiliary type.

The obvious solution:

Before copying a file to a ProDOS volume using PC Exchange, make sure
the creator is 'pdos' and the file type is set correctly (even just to
'TEXT' - you can always set up the correct file type once it is on an
Apple II).

Apple File Exchange doesn't try to preserve the Macintosh file type and
creator when copying files to foreign file systems, so the problem
doesn't arise if you use it.

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