[microangelito]

Does anyone know what the .app (application extension) OS 9 equivalent is? As I have some classic software that has lost it's extension and won't run! It is an installer if this helps.

Please Help I've searched everywhere!

Thanks in advance.

[Spheric Harlot]

There isn't one.

The executable status is stored as part of the metadata in the resource fork.

You need an application that can edit resource forks - either an alternative file browser like Disktop or ResEdit.

Change the file type to APPL.

However, if the application has been stored on a Windows-formatted drive, like a USB stick, then the resource fork has been removed and you can throw the app away.

[CharlesS]

OS 9 didn't have an extension - it relied on file types in the HFS+ metadata.

You could go get an app to change the file types and try that (the correct type is 'APPL'), but if that information has been stripped off, the resource fork may have been stripped also, in which case the application is damaged and will not run no matter what you do.

edit: beaten by Spheric (although I have to make the correction that the HFS+ metadata is not stored in the resource fork. Many files have type/creator codes set without having a resource fork - applications are not among them, though).

[tooki]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

However, if the application has been stored on a Windows-formatted drive, like a USB stick, then the resource fork has been removed and you can throw the app away.

As a blanket statement, that's wrong. Both classic Mac OS as well as Mac OS X can successfully (and reasonably safely) save files with resource forks to Windows-formatted disks, by splitting the Mac file into two files on the Windows disk. There are two pitfalls with this approach:

1. For reasons beyond my comprehension, classic Mac OS and Mac OS X save files with resource forks to Windows disks differently. I no longer remember what the classic Mac OS did, but Mac OS X saves the resource fork to a "clone" file with ._ before it. (That is, a Mac file called MyProgram becomes two files on the Windows disk: MyProgram and ._MyProgram, when copied using Mac OS X.) Of course, this means that files copied using classic Mac OS become unreadable on Mac OS X.

2. Once on the PC, people often delete the ._ file (or the classic Mac OS equivalent), not knowing what it is, thus destroying the resource fork of the file and rendering it useless.

[Spheric Harlot]

The third point, which runs back into my blanket statement, is that once this has happened, there is NO WAY to reconstitute that file or application without the use of third-party software.

[microangelito]

What third party app would I need?

[CharlesS]

If the resource fork has been stripped off, there's nothing you can do. This is something you can check in the Terminal by typing this command:

ls -l "<path to file>/..namedfork/rsrc"

If the file size column (just to the left of the date) is zero, then the app has no resource fork and you're not going to be able to launch it.

[Spheric Harlot]

I thought there existed some tool to reconnect the two parts if coming off a Windows-formatted drive...can't remember, though.

And you're right, of course: If the resource fork has been LOST (because the weirdly-named companion resource file wasn't pulled off the drive along with the data fork), then there is not even a theoretical chance of ever getting this file to work.

[microangelito]

I tried what CharlesS said. I typed:

Is -I "</Volumes/Powerbook Store/Store/Sim City 3000 (Mac)/SimCity3000 Installer>/..namedfork/rsrc"
-bash: Is: command not found

And thats what happened. Did I do it correctly?

Thanks.

[Spheric Harlot]

That first character's an L, not an i

[Art Vandelay]

and get rid of the <> and try again.

[microangelito]

I tried that and this is the result:

ls -l "/Volumes/Powerbook Store/Store/Sim City 3000 (Mac)/SimCity3000 Installer/..namedfork/rsrc"
-rw-r--r-- 1 ******** staff 0 3 Sep 03:43 /Volumes/Powerbook Store/Store/Sim City 3000 (Mac)/SimCity3000 Installer/..namedfork/rsrc

[Art Vandelay]

It's a goner.

[CharlesS]

Yup, you're gonna have to get a fresh copy of that file... sorry