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HFS+. Linus Torvlads [smh.com.au]. When asked about which is better Windows or Mac OS :
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Linus Torvlads [smh.com.au] When asked about which is better Windows or Mac OS: • I don't think they're equally flawed. I think Leopard is a much better system. On the other hand, (I've found) OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary. I think OS X is nicer than Windows in many ways, but neither can hold a candle to my own (Linux). It's a race to second place.
HFS+ • File system developed by Apple • Used since OSX 8.1 (January 19, 1998) • Used by computers running OSX, iPods
HFS+ • Block addresses are 32-bit length • uses Unicode, permits filenames up to 255 UTF-16 characters in length • Uses B*-trees to store most volume metadata • Maximum file size is 2^63 bytes
HFS+ • Journaling support added November 11, 2002 (known internally as HFSJ) • With 10.4, Apple added support for Inline Attribute Data records allowing support for access control list-based file security (compatible with Win XP, 2003)
How does OSX FS store extended attributes for the files? • Any regular file may have a list of extended attributes • Extended attributes are limited to that which can fit within a single B-Tree • Denoted by a name and the associated data • The name is a Unicode string
How does OSX FS store extended attributes for the files? • Say you have a file with comment. If you move that file to a thumb drive or CDROM (which does not support extended attributes), is the comment lost?
How does OSX FS store extended attributes for the files? • File is given attributes • File is then copied to a lesser volume (Fat32) • A file starting with a “.” is created and added to the file system • Files starting with “.” are hidden in the Unix world but show up in Windows
Resources: • http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1150.html • http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/q-and-a-with-linus-torvalds/2008/02/05/1202090403120.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2 • http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10-4.ars/7