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fisherKing · Mar 10, 2008, 01:23 PM

this has only happened to me in 10.5 (now 10.5.2); on 2 macs, 1 intel, 1 ppc.

in some folders, where i have a custom icon on the folder (and sometimes, where i've REMOVED the custom icon), i have a file in that folder labeled 'icon'. this file has a generic document icon.

any idea why this is, or what this is? just annoying, have not seen that in previous os x versions...

Chuckit · 02:19 PM

That's peculiar. I know that folder custom icons are stored as a file that starts with "Icon" (and is followed by a carriage return, which isn't a displayable character), but I can't recall ever having seen one become visible.

Big Mac · Mar 10, 2008, 02:06 PM

Neither have I. Do you use some custom icon creator software?

fisherKing · Mar 10, 2008, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Neither have I. Do you use some custom icon creator software?

i've used fasticns (app) on both machines, for some icons. could this be the cause?
even in 10.4, same app...never saw this before...

Chuckit · Mar 10, 2008, 05:11 PM

I've never used that app, but I could believe it. That would explain why I haven't seen the issue before. It sounds like that program isn't properly setting the invisible bit for the "Icon\r" files. You could use another app like Xray to turn them invisible like they should be.

Hal Itosis · Mar 11, 2008, 12:03 AM

Could perhaps be that this program is doing a "chflags 0" to fully unlock the file.
In Leopard now, that will also turn off the new 'hidden' flag (which is identical to the
old familiar "invisible in Finder" flag... only now we can toggle it with Unix's chflags).

chflags hidden /path/to/Icon?

should also make it disappear (Leopard only).
[used the ? to match the carriage return]

kbostroem · Apr 14, 2008, 05:14 AM

Hi people,

I recently started adding custom icons my folders. After synchronizing my MacBook with my Desktop G5 (both are on 10.5.2) using "Synk Standard" many of the custom icons became visible files.
Using the apps "XRay" and "InVisible" I observed that after synchronization the "Icon" files of customized folders
1. sometimes lose their invisible bit at the source site,
2. sometimes lose the invisible bit at the target site
3. sometimes remain invisible but stop working as folder icons

This is *very* weird behavior!

A bug report to Decimus (the manufacturers of Synk) was answered with a confirmation that this is a known Leopard bug.
It seems, the only solution at the time is:
Do not use custom icons!
I removed all of them with sorrow, but I cannot bear such weirdness on my computer.

Hal Itosis · Apr 15, 2008, 02:51 AM

Originally Posted by kbostroem

Hi people,

I recently started adding custom icons my folders. After synchronizing my MacBook with my Desktop G5 (both are on 10.5.2) using "Synk Standard" many of the custom icons became visible files.
Using the apps "XRay" and "InVisible" I observed that after synchronization the "Icon" files of customized folders
1. sometimes lose their invisible bit at the source site,
2. sometimes lose the invisible bit at the target site
3. sometimes remain invisible but stop working as folder icons

This is *very* weird behavior!

A bug report to Decimus (the manufacturers of Synk) was answered with a confirmation that this is a known Leopard bug.
It seems, the only solution at the time is:
Do not use custom icons!
I removed all of them with sorrow, but I cannot bear such weirdness on my computer.

Yeh right... a "known Leopard bug" which doesn't affect any other backup program.

Just Synk.

turtle777 · Apr 15, 2008, 03:58 AM

^^^

-t

P · Apr 15, 2008, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by Hal Itosis

Could perhaps be that this program is doing a "chflags 0" to fully unlock the file.
In Leopard now, that will also turn off the new 'hidden' flag (which is identical to the
old familiar "invisible in Finder" flag... only now we can toggle it with Unix's chflags).

chflags hidden /path/to/Icon?

should also make it disappear (Leopard only).
[used the ? to match the carriage return]

The way to do this in older versions of OS X is with the SetFile tool, installed with the Developer tools. Previously, chflags could only toggle the HFS+ flags that had a corresponding flag in FreeBSDs FFS (like uchg), but now it seems it can toggle hidden/invisible as well. You can now also see flags like that using ls -lO.

You still need SetFile to set the other options.

Chuckit · Apr 15, 2008, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by Hal Itosis

Yeh right... a "known Leopard bug" which doesn't affect any other backup program.

Just Synk.

I figured it was a cleverly worded double meaning — a "Leopard bug" could be a bug in Leopard's code or a bug that only occurs in a program when running on Leopard.

fisherKing · Apr 15, 2008, 06:19 PM

hmmm...am the original poster, AND a synk user...

Hal Itosis · Apr 16, 2008, 02:17 AM

What are (some of) the pathnames to these folders, where visible icon files have appeared?

Was Synk used to merely copy items from these folders... or, did it also copy files to them?

Hal Itosis · May 3, 2008, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by fisherKing

hmmm...am the original poster, AND a synk user...

Synk had (and possibly still has) lots of promise. From the freeware versions (up thru v.4) to my current Synk "Professional" 6.3.3, I have always liked the app. The current developer however [since version 5] seems to treat it as a side hobby... despite the $45 price tag. Every single release seems to add more bugs than it fixes. The forums there have become a joke... totally inundated with pr0n/spam, and real requests left unanswered (by either moderator or developer) for weeks.

Sad really.