Re: [PLUG] Mac client, Linux server(s)

["William H. Magill" <magill@mcgillsociety.org>]

On 18 May, 2005, at 09:09, Ben Dugan wrote:
> Adam Zion wrote:
>
> >     I just bought my wife an iBook notebook. I'm almost certain  
> > that its
> > AirPort wireless networking card will work w/my LinkSys 802.11g  
> > wireless
> > router. My question involves my linux workstations calvin + hobbes.
> >     Calvin shares HD space using Samba + nfs. Hobbes shares printers
> > w/Samba (we also have a WinXP notebook). Does anyone have enough
> > experience working w/Mac clients on linux networks to say how this  
> > will
> > work, if at all? Ideally, she'll be able to print to one of the  
> > printers
> > on Hobbes over the network.
>
> Do Macs still have separate resource and data forks for all files  
> and, if so, how does this map into the shared file systems?

There are multiple answers to this question -- yes, no and ok.

Under OS 9 all Mac files had resource forks.

Under OS X some Mac files have resource forks.

Both NFS and Samba should deal with the resource forks with no problem.

HOWEVER... the idea that you can simply take a Mac formatted file and  
read it on a Windows box is as bogus as taking a Windows formatted  
file and reading it under Linux -- it all depends!

Viewed from  the Mac (OS X or OS 9) the files in the SAMBA share will  
look "normal."
However, those same files viewed from either Linux or Windows may  
have "extra baggage." i.e. the resource forks.

Assuming that the SAMBA and NFS server is current, it should take  
care of 90+% of the resource fork mapping issues. My understanding is  
that a Linux based SAMBA server is much easier to deal with by  
"others" than one based on a Windows box. If the SAMBA server is  
based on either the Mac or the Windows box, there are evidently many  
more "quirks" to the usage of the server.

What's in the resource forks...? It depends. Nominally, file meta- 
data. However, some applications, Photoshop is one that comes to  
mind, actually store data in those resource forks.

And as always, the version of Word used to create the file plays into  
direct compatibility with the ability of another version of Word to  
read that file. Right now, I don't know if the Mac version of Word  
(Office for the Mac, 2004) is compatible with the Versions of Word  
available for Windows. The Mac version tends to lead the Windows  
version and you are required to save the file in a format for the  
specific version of the PC copy of Word. This is strictly a Word  
problem and has been true for as long as there have been versions of  
Word for both platforms!

One final caveat --- if you are using ACLs under OSX, they are NOT  
compatible across either SAMBA or NFS shares. To the best of my  
knowledge, neither supports ACLs and similar metadata at this time.  
And, needless to say, Windows ACLs and OSX ACLs are not compatible.

The printers should "just work," but as always, it will totally  
depend upon the features of the printer being used. ASCII files and  
PDFs should print with no problems, as long as the spool queues are  
visible.

T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
# Beige G3 [Rev A motherboard - 300 MHz 768 Meg] OS X 10.2.8
# Flat-panel iMac (2.1) [800MHz - Super Drive - 768 Meg] OS X 10.3.8
# PWS433a [Alpha 21164 Rev 7.2 (EV56)- 64 Meg] Tru64 5.1a
# XP1000  [Alpha 21264-3 (EV6) - 256 meg] FreeBSD 5.3
# XP1000  [Alpha 21264-A (EV 6.7) - 384 meg] FreeBSD 5.3
magill@mcgillsociety.org
magill@acm.org
magill@mac.com
whmagill@gmail.com


___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug