[OpenAFS] MacOS AppleDouble excretions

[Jeffrey Altman]

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On 10/15/2010 10:32 AM, Booker Bense wrote:
> On Fri, 15 Oct 2010, omalleys@msu.edu wrote:
>=20
>> Just 2 cents.
>>
>> .DS_Store files can get axed. They are sort of akin to windows
>> thumb.db files.
>>
>> Resource forks:
>> This guy said it better than I could:
>> http://jonsview.com/mac-os-x-resource-forks
>>
>=20
> [ A whole lot of work for no apparent gain]
>=20
> This whole idea is completely wrong IMHO, AFS's job is to store files
> and do that well, not to work around what the OS does or does not do. I=

> see this as a complete waste of time.
>=20
> Resource forks may be stupid, but it's not AFS's job to fix
> the stupidity of OS's. Down that path lies madness...
>=20
> - Booker C. Bense

The real issue here is not whether or not a resource fork (MacOS X) or
Extended Attributes and Multiple Data Streams (Windows) are a good or a
bad idea.  The real issue is that any first class file system designed
today has this functionality and AFS does not.  For AFS to be treated as
a first class file system it must have support for this functionality.
If AFS does not provide it one of two things happens:

1. The OS must work around the deficiency by use of Apple DoubleFiles or
some equivalent.

2. The OS must disable some functionality which limits the ability of
some applications or use cases to function.

Apple chose to take path one.  Microsoft chose path two.

The fix for the I don't like DoubleFiles issue is to find the financial
or development resources necessary to implement support for EAs and
multiple data streams within AFS so that the OS doesn't need to make up
its own substitute.

As for the question of Thumbs.db, Desktop.ini, and equivalents.  It is
not the file systems job to exclude the creation of particular file
names on particular platforms.   Doing so creates a support nightmare
because end users can't understand why their applications simply fail to
work as intended.  Using Thumbs.db as an example, the failure to provide
this file will cause the Windows Explorer shell to read every file in
the directory in full in order to construct the thumbnail images
required for its display.  Storing the Thumbs.db file is a lot less
costly than the network utilization and file server load that re-reading
every file in the directory each time the window is refreshed.

Jeffrey Altman



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