A/UX 2.0 and screwed up DeskTop

[William Roberts]

In <12000 at hydra.gatech.EDU> wj4 at prism.gatech.EDU (JOYE,WILLIAM A) writes:


>Has anyone else had problems with the DeskTop Manager and A/UX 2.0 for
>NFS files?

>Problem: DeskTop Manager gets screwed up with certain files mounted
>         with NFS. AppleSingle, ASCII, and binary files are randomly
>         given bogus Type and Creator info and displayed with the incorrect
>         icon. AppleDouble files are not affected. Of the Applesingle
>         files, both Applications and Documents are fair game. A look with
>         Resedit reveals an incorrect Type and Creator. Also, Resedit can't
>         look at the resource fork. 

>Solution so far: However, the AppleSingle files can be recovered. I login 
>         via our Gatorbox as an AppleShare. The files show up normal. I
>         can copy them or even run them if they are an Application.

>Theory:  The DeskTop Manager is got problems with an NFS Applesingle file.
>         If the old desktop file method is used, everything is fine.
>         The file is not corrupted, (hence can be recovered) but, the
>         desktop manager incorrectly reads the header and resource fork
>         wrong and concludes it is NOT an valid AppleSingle, even it
>         created it in the past. It then decides its a normal unix text
>         or binary files and assigns the default icons and info.

This theory is wrong, since the Desktop manager does not actually modify
the files. We are quite happily using Mac files from NFS file servers,
in both the AppleDouble and AppleSingle formats: indeed if you drag
something onto a folder on a UNIX filesystem, A?UX 2.0 prefers to put
them into AppleSingle format files.

We do however get problems if the file system fills up or the desktop
file gets otherwise corrupted. This seems to me a much more likely
explanation.  I don't however know what happens if you put an AppleSingle
file on top of an Apple DOuble - does the old % part stay there and does it
cause problems?
-- 

William Roberts                 ARPA: liam at cs.qmw.ac.uk
Queen Mary & Westfield College  UUCP: liam at qmw-cs.UUCP
Mile End Road                   AppleLink: UK0087
LONDON, E1 4NS, UK              Tel:  071-975 5250 (Fax: 081-980 6533)