[KLUG Members] Apple OSX Server

[Greg Mason]

>>> Does a Linux server support Apple file namespace??  If they have  
>>> Macs
>>> already then that can be a big issue!!  If you lose the resource  
>>> fork
>>> in the name when it is saved then that gets to be a really big
>>> problem on a Mac.  They do not use extensions to determine filetypes
>>> like Windows boxes do.....
>> I'm not sure about the Apple filesystem, but I currently connect  
>> to the W2K
>> server via SMB with no problem. I'm creating, editing, and  
>> deleting files no
>> prob. Was the filesystem problem an issue with earlier version of  
>> Mac OS
>> (prior to OSX)? I would think connecting to a Linux Samba share  
>> with a Mac
>> would be the same as with Windows.
>
> NT/NTFS supports resource forks.

Apple has been slowly moving away from using resource forks for quite  
some time now, to gain compatibility with other systems. While you  
*may* still run into a file with a resource fork, it's not that  
common. I haven't run across one in a good long time. On OS X, it's  
actually quite dependent on the MIME type and/or file extension. For  
instance, if I take the file extension off a JPG, it sometimes still  
opens in the correct viewer, but not always. In short, Apple doesn't  
use resource forks, and has been encouraging developers to do the  
same. The only time you'll run into resource forks is if you've got  
some poor soul using an old app like PageMaker in Classic *shudders*.

Many document formats (and even applications themselves) are really  
just folders with a file extension. For instance, a Pages (Apple's  
word processor app) saves its documents as a folder with a .pages  
file extension. Applications are folders with a .app file extension.  
It all Just Works from other filesystems. So far the only filesystem  
issue I ran into was installing Tiger on my PowerBook with case- 
sensitivity turned on. Everything ran fine, except Adobe Creative  
Suite. The default filesystem for OS X is HFS+ with journaling, but  
without case sensitivity (it is case preserving, though).

Also, OS X has methods of preserving resource forks on non-Macintosh  
filesystems. If you have a file named abc123.xyz, you'll have another  
file along with it called ._abc123.xyz. These files are marked as  
"hidden" on SMB volumes (if I recall correctly), and *NIX machines  
treat them, obviously, as hidden as well.

Connecting (or serving!) to a SMB fileshare on a Mac is about the  
same as on any other *NIX box with Samba. Serving up a SMB share from  
a Mac, on a HFS+ volume just works, as it should.

Hope this clears some stuff up...

-Greg