Mac Forum / Applications / Mac Applications / February 2005

Slight correction: you lose the file attributes on all of them. It's just that
the Mac automatically restores this information when it recognizes a file
extension, such as .jpg or .tif.

This is how FTP works.

The Mac file system is quite sophisticated; Mac files have two "parts," called
a "data fork" and a "resource fork," ad other special information, called the
"Finder metadata," which contains the file association and other information.

FTP was invented in a time where files only had one part and when there was no
such thing as Finder metadata. When you use FTP to transfer a file, the
resource fork is removed and the Finder metadata is discarded. This means the
file associations are lost. It also means that Mac-specific files which rely on
the resource fork, such as programs or system files or fonts, are permanently
and irrevocably destroyed by the FTP process, beyond all hope of recovery.

FTP is an inappropriate way to send around mac files.

You have two choices:

1. Send the files using FTP, and make sure you name the files by using PC rules
for file names. For example, PageMaker 6.5 files must have a name that ends in
".p65". This will remove the file associations, but most programs can repair
the associations based n the file name. Note thattransferring Mac-specific
files like fonts or applications will still destroy them.

2. Always use Stuffit to compress the files before you send them. When you
compress a file, the resource fork and Finder metadata are preserved and
protected in a way that makes it safe to transfer the compressed file using
FTP.

3. Use MacBinary. The file will be changed into a special ".bin" file with its
resource fork and Finder metadata protected. in order to use the file after it
has been FTPd, you must decode the MacBinary file to change it back to its
original form. Stuffit Expander can do this.

Hope that helps...