AppleSingle and AppleDouble files are used by certain Mac applications (e.g. Finder) to store Mac-specific file attributes on filesystems that do not support that.
Syntactically, both formats are the same, the only difference is how they are being used:
._
to keep it hidden.In modern practice (Mac OS X), Finder only uses AppleDouble to keep compatibility with other OSes, as virtually nobody outside of Mac understands how to access data in AppleSingle container.
This page hosts a formal specification of AppleSingle / AppleDouble using Kaitai Struct. This specification can be automatically translated into a variety of programming languages to get a parsing library.
-- This is a generated file! Please edit source .ksy file and use kaitai-struct-compiler to rebuild
--
-- This file is compatible with Lua 5.3
local class = require("class")
require("kaitaistruct")
local enum = require("enum")
local stringstream = require("string_stream")
--
-- AppleSingle and AppleDouble files are used by certain Mac
-- applications (e.g. Finder) to store Mac-specific file attributes on
-- filesystems that do not support that.
--
-- Syntactically, both formats are the same, the only difference is how
-- they are being used:
--
-- * AppleSingle means that only one file will be created on external
-- filesystem that will hold both the data (AKA "data fork" in Apple
-- terminology), and the attributes (AKA "resource fork").
-- * AppleDouble means that two files will be created: a normal file
-- that keeps the data ("data fork") is kept separately from an
-- auxiliary file that contains attributes ("resource fork"), which
-- is kept with the same name, but starting with an extra dot and
-- underscore `._` to keep it hidden.
--
-- In modern practice (Mac OS X), Finder only uses AppleDouble to keep
-- compatibility with other OSes, as virtually nobody outside of Mac
-- understands how to access data in AppleSingle container.
-- See also: Source (http://kaiser-edv.de/documents/AppleSingle_AppleDouble.pdf)
AppleSingleDouble = class.class(KaitaiStruct)
AppleSingleDouble.FileType = enum.Enum {
apple_single = 333312,
apple_double = 333319,
}
function AppleSingleDouble:_init(io, parent, root)
KaitaiStruct._init(self, io)
self._parent = parent
self._root = root or self
self:_read()
end
function AppleSingleDouble:_read()
self.magic = AppleSingleDouble.FileType(self._io:read_u4be())
self.version = self._io:read_u4be()
self.reserved = self._io:read_bytes(16)
self.num_entries = self._io:read_u2be()
self.entries = {}
for i = 0, self.num_entries - 1 do
self.entries[i + 1] = AppleSingleDouble.Entry(self._io, self, self._root)
end
end
--
-- Must be all 0.
AppleSingleDouble.Entry = class.class(KaitaiStruct)
AppleSingleDouble.Entry.Types = enum.Enum {
data_fork = 1,
resource_fork = 2,
real_name = 3,
comment = 4,
icon_bw = 5,
icon_color = 6,
file_dates_info = 8,
finder_info = 9,
macintosh_file_info = 10,
prodos_file_info = 11,
msdos_file_info = 12,
afp_short_name = 13,
afp_file_info = 14,
afp_directory_id = 15,
}
function AppleSingleDouble.Entry:_init(io, parent, root)
KaitaiStruct._init(self, io)
self._parent = parent
self._root = root or self
self:_read()
end
function AppleSingleDouble.Entry:_read()
self.type = AppleSingleDouble.Entry.Types(self._io:read_u4be())
self.ofs_body = self._io:read_u4be()
self.len_body = self._io:read_u4be()
end
AppleSingleDouble.Entry.property.body = {}
function AppleSingleDouble.Entry.property.body:get()
if self._m_body ~= nil then
return self._m_body
end
local _pos = self._io:pos()
self._io:seek(self.ofs_body)
local _on = self.type
if _on == AppleSingleDouble.Entry.Types.finder_info then
self._raw__m_body = self._io:read_bytes(self.len_body)
local _io = KaitaiStream(stringstream(self._raw__m_body))
self._m_body = AppleSingleDouble.FinderInfo(_io, self, self._root)
else
self._m_body = self._io:read_bytes(self.len_body)
end
self._io:seek(_pos)
return self._m_body
end
--
-- Information specific to Finder.
-- See also: older Inside Macintosh, Volume II page 84 or Volume IV page 104.
AppleSingleDouble.FinderInfo = class.class(KaitaiStruct)
function AppleSingleDouble.FinderInfo:_init(io, parent, root)
KaitaiStruct._init(self, io)
self._parent = parent
self._root = root or self
self:_read()
end
function AppleSingleDouble.FinderInfo:_read()
self.file_type = self._io:read_bytes(4)
self.file_creator = self._io:read_bytes(4)
self.flags = self._io:read_u2be()
self.location = AppleSingleDouble.Point(self._io, self, self._root)
self.folder_id = self._io:read_u2be()
end
--
-- File icon's coordinates when displaying this folder.
--
-- File folder ID (=window).
--
-- Specifies 2D coordinate in QuickDraw grid.
AppleSingleDouble.Point = class.class(KaitaiStruct)
function AppleSingleDouble.Point:_init(io, parent, root)
KaitaiStruct._init(self, io)
self._parent = parent
self._root = root or self
self:_read()
end
function AppleSingleDouble.Point:_read()
self.x = self._io:read_u2be()
self.y = self._io:read_u2be()
end