How to delete the Mac OS resource fork

[Arni]

Hi Phil,

I tried to delete the Mac OS resource fork of some JPG files that I want to use
under a different file system (FAT32) on my USB stick.
In the Mac OS X Terminal application I wrote the following command-line:

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exiftool -rsrc:all= -r /Users/Arni/Desktop/Test


..and got the following output:

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mac-pro:~ Arni$ exiftool -rsrc:all= -r /Users/Arni/Desktop/Test
    1 directories scanned
    0 image files updated
    5 image files unchanged
mac-pro:~ Arni$


The command seems not to be executed. Why?

Arni

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Arni,

If the file was unchanged by that command, then it didn't have a resource fork.

To see if the files contain a resource fork, do this:

ls -l@ /Users/Arni/Desktop/Test

The resource fork will be listed as "com.apple.ResourceFork".  There may be other forks ("com.apple.FinderInfo" for example) that are not accessible by ExifTool.

- Phil

[Arni]

Hi Phil,

I think you are right. The files seem not to have any resource fork.

Does ExifTool in any case add a resource fork to a file if there does no one exist before?
(For example, if I was using the -overwrite_original option)

Arni

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Arni,

ExifTool never adds a resource fork.  ExifTool only preserves the existing resource fork when rewriting a file.  All other forks are removed unless the -overwrite_original_in_place option is used.

- Phil

[Arni]

Thank you very much for the information, Phil.

Best regards,

Arni