._ file names?

D

djliquidice

Registered
What are those pesky ._filenames?

If i delete a file via the GUI or command line, that file still stays there. It's nothing big, i'm just curious. :(
 
Those are "resource fork" files which show up on filesystems lacking multi-fork support. You didn't happen to format your Mac drive as UFS, did you? If so you might want to reformat your drive as HFS+ and reinstall the system. I don't recommend using UFS simply because it causes more headaches than it's worth.
 
One great thing about UFS though, if for instance, (like i do) you have a lot of small (<4k) files, their size is displayed incorrectly under HFS+... for instance, i use the built-in Apache with PHP for local development of my site. I have about 18 php files, the largest of which is 11K. most are less than 4K, with some being only a couple of hundred bytes. UFS shows true sizes down to 1K, and for web development, where Resource forks can make things go screwey, i find it much easier.

Just my thoughts



Pengu
 
You'll get the correct file size if you use get info (Command+I), it's only incorrect if you use the finder. It seems the calculated size in the finder is based on the addressing blocks.

Just a thought, if you would like to have UFS for web development, can't you just have a small partition of the drive being UFS, while the rest is HFS+ and have the web directory in the UFS partition? Under UNIX, it should all be brached off root ("/"), so it shouldn't be an issue if you changed the http.config.

I could be WAY off there...
 
Originally posted by slur
Those are "resource fork" files which show up on filesystems lacking multi-fork support. You didn't happen to format your Mac drive as UFS, did you? If so you might want to reformat your drive as HFS+ and reinstall the system. I don't recommend using UFS simply because it causes more headaches than it's worth.
Click to expand...


Yeah, the ibook i have was a gift, and I immediately reloaded it with osx from os9. I'm no computer dummy (10+ years exp as a techie), im just new to osx.

I did use UFS, and i guess there is no way to directly convert from UFS -> HFS.

I dont mind reformatting at all.

Noob question: What are the best books to explain the unix side of OSX (Darwin?). I was looking at my favorites (o'rielly series), but am not too sure what u guys suggest. :)

Thanks for all of your help!!! :-D
 
djliquidice,

You should look at O'Reilly's _Mac OS X for Unix Geeks_ (as I assume you are Unix proficient).

I just bought _Learning Unix for Mac OS X_ as I am not Unix savvy.

Doug
 
dkTrickey

Thanks. :) Darwin is the only thing i like about the OSX right now. The gui is 'ok'. I'm not one to get all excited about transparent menus and all bells & whistles.

I am a unix guru, i help support HP UX, and AIX boxes at work. :)

The reason i asked for book info is because APPLE's non standardized approach to the building of Darwin. All the config files are in weird (IMO of course) locations. :p

I'm most angry about the 129$ upgrade form 10.1.5 to 10.2. That kinda sux.

Is the price justified?

:confused:
 
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