ExifTool Forum

ExifTool => Bug Reports / Feature Requests => Topic started by: todrobbins on March 11, 2015, 05:03:02 PM

Title: OpenMeta / Finder Tag extraction
Post by: todrobbins on March 11, 2015, 05:03:02 PM
I didn't see this discussed anywhere else on the forum and thought I'd put in a request, if it's possible, to extract the https://code.google.com/p/openmeta/ (https://code.google.com/p/openmeta/) / Finder tags on OSX/HFS+. I'd love to be more educated about how this metadata is attached and stored regardless if it's within the scope of ExifTool.

Cheers!
Title: Re: OpenMeta / Finder Tag extraction
Post by: Phil Harvey on March 11, 2015, 06:50:34 PM
Interesting.  Thanks for the request.

On OS X, there are many "forks" to a file.  Historically, there were only two, the data and the resource fork.  The data fork is the normal file data.  Apple was nice, and devised a way to allow the resource fork to be accessed through the standard C i/o library, so ExifTool can read metadata from this file.  But I know of no way to access the other forks via standard i/o.  I am guessing that this new openmeta information may be in one of those, which would be a problem for ExifTool.  However, what I have read so far about openmeta doesn't give enough technical information to be able to tell if this is the case.  It would be great if they used the resource fork, but since nobody ever asks my opinion, usually things like this don't go the way I would like.

I'll read more about it later if I get a chance.

- Phil
Title: Re: OpenMeta / Finder Tag extraction
Post by: Hayo Baan on March 12, 2015, 02:33:26 AM
Hi Phil, from the description on their website they store the data in the extended attributes: "The metadata is stored in extended attributes (xattr)."
Title: Re: OpenMeta / Finder Tag extraction
Post by: Phil Harvey on March 12, 2015, 06:58:28 AM
Hi Hayo,

Thanks.  Now I just need to find out where the extended attributes are stored. :P

- Phil