-rwxrwxrwx@ file permissions

[aviary99]

I have a number of files with -rwxrwxrwx@ file permissions (note the @ at the end - this comes from an ls -l command in terminal). They are photos on an external drive. When I try to copy them to a new drive I am advised that I do not have permission to copy them (despite rwxrwxrwx).

This is confusing and also very hard to search for (@ not liked at all). Can anyone tell me what the deal is? I have a suspicion it may relate to the photos being imported iPhoto at some time but that I cannot confirm.

I can copy them to a windows machine and then to the final destination but all the last modified dates get changed (not a desirable outcome).

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[psxguru]

The @ denotes the file/directory has extended attributes associated with it.

man ls and you will see that you can list them by using the -@ option

eg ls -l@

You can also use xattr -l to view them.

Not sure why you can't copy them though. What format is the new drive?

 

[aviary99]

-rwxrwxrwx@ file permissions

Thanks that is exactly what it is. There attributes are com.apple.FinderInfo and com.apple.ResourceFork.

The drive as FAT32 as its share between Mac and Windows. I eventually got the files copied by attaching the drive to another machine (Mac). However the attributes went from -rwxrwxrwx to -rw-rw-r--.

This makes me think that I loaded the files onto the other machine and the file attributes are not exactly correct when viewed from another machine.

Searching for com.apple.FinderInfo it appears there is some mystery about these attributes.

Thanks again.