MIME Encapsulation of Macintosh Files - MacMIME
How to mail a two-part Macintosh file through MIME without losing either part.
Faltstrom, P., Crocker, D., and E. Fair, "MIME Encapsulation of Macintosh Files - MacMIME", RFC 1740, DOI 10.17487/RFC1740, December 1994, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1740>.
@misc{rfc1740,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 1740,
howpublished = {RFC 1740},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC1740},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1740},
author = {P. Faltstrom and D. Crocker and E. Fair},
title = {{MIME Encapsulation of Macintosh Files - MacMIME}},
pagetotal = 16,
year = 1994,
month = dec,
} RFC text
Contents
Network Working Group Patrik Faltstrom
Request for Comments: 1740 Royal Institute of Technology
Category: Standards Track Dave Crocker
Brandenburg Consulting
Erik E. Fair
Apple Computer Inc.
December 1994
MIME Encapsulation of Macintosh files - MacMIME
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This memo describes the format to use when sending Apple Macintosh
files via MIME [BORE93]. The format is compatible with existing
mechanisms for distributing Macintosh files, while allowing non-
Macintosh systems access to data in standardized formats.
2. Introduction
Files on the Macintosh consists of two parts, called forks:
Data fork: The actual data included in the file. The Data
fork is typically the only meaningful part of a
Macintosh file on a non-Macintosh computer system.
For example, if a Macintosh user wants to send a
file of data to a user on an IBM-PC, she would only
send the Data fork.
Resource fork: Contains a collection of arbitrary attribute/value
pairs, including program segments, icon bitmaps,
and parametric values.
Additional information regarding Macintosh files is stored by the
Finder in a hidden file, called the "Desktop Database".
Because of the complications in storing different parts of a
Macintosh file in a non-Macintosh filesystem that only handles
consecutive data in one part, it is common to convert the Macintosh
file into some other format before transferring it over the network.
The two styles of use are [APPL90]:
AppleSingle: Apple's standard format for encoding Macintosh files
as one byte stream.
AppleDouble: Similar to AppleSingle except that the Data fork is
separated from the Macintosh-specific parts by the
AppleDouble encoding.
AppleDouble is the preferred format for a Macintosh file that is to
be included in an Internet mail message, because it provides
recipients with Macintosh computers the entire document, including
Icons and other Macintosh specific information, while other users
easily can extract the Data fork (the actual data) as it is separated
from the AppleDouble encoding.
2. MIME format for Apple/Macintosh-specific file information
2a. APPLICATION/APPLEFILE
MIME type-name: APPLICATION
MIME subtype name: APPLEFILE
Required parameters: none
Optional parameters: NAME, which must be a "value" as
defined in RFC-1521 [BORE93].
Encoding considerations: The presence of binary data will
typically require use of
Content-Transfer-Encoding: BASE64
Security considerations: See separate section in the document
Published specification: Apple-single & Apple-double [APPL90]
Rationale: Permits MIME-based transmission of
data with Apple/Macintosh specific
information, while allowing general
access to non-specific user data.
2b. MULTIPART/APPLEDOUBLE
MIME type-name: MULTIPART
MIME subtype name: APPLEDOUBLE
Required parameters: none
Optional parameters: NAME, which must be a "value" as
defined in RFC-1521 [BORE93].
Encoding considerations: none
Security considerations: See separate section in the document
Published specification: Apple-single & Apple-double [APPL90]
Rationale: Permits MIME-based transmission of
data with Apple/Macintosh specific
information, while allowing general
access to non-specific user data.
2c. Detail specific to MIME-based usage
Macintosh documents do not always need to be sent in a special
format. Those documents with well-known MIME types and
non-existent or trivial resource forks can be sent as regular
MIME body parts, without use of AppleSingle or AppleDouble.
Documents which lack a data fork must be sent as AppleSingle.
Unless there are strong reasons not to, all other documents
should normally be sent as AppleDouble. This includes documents
with non-trivial resource forks, and documents without
corresponding well-known MIME types.
It may be valuable in some cases to allow the user to choose one
format over another, either because he disagrees with the
implementor's definition of "trivial" resource forks, or for
reasons of his own.
3. AppleSingle
An AppleSingle, version 2 file, is sent as one consecutive stream of
bytes. The format is described in [APPL90] with a brief summary in
Appendix A. The one and only part of the file is sent in an
application/applefile message.
The first four bytes of an AppleSingle header are, in hexadecimal:
00, 05, 16, 00.
The AppleSingle file is binary data. Hence, it may be necessary to
perform a Content-Transfer-Encoding for transmission, depending on
the underlying email transport environment. The safest encoding is
Base64, since it permits transfer over the most restricted channels.
Even though an AppleSingle file includes the original Macintosh
filename, it is recommended that a name parameter be included on the
Content-Type header to give the recipient a hint as to what file is
attached. The value of the name parameter must be a "value" as
defined by RFC-1521 [BORE93]. Note that this restricts the value to
seven-bit US-ASCII characters.
3a. AppleSingle example
Content-Type: application/applefile; name="Computers-1/2-93"
[The AppleSingle file goes here]
4. AppleDouble
An AppleDouble, version 2, file is divided in two parts:
Header: including the Macintosh resource fork and desktop
information and
Data fork: containing the Macintosh data fork.
The AppleDouble format is described in [APPL90] with a brief summary
in Appendix B.
The AppleDouble file itself is sent as a multipart/appledouble MIME
body-part, which may have only two sub-parts. The header is sent as
application/applefile and the data fork as whatever best describes
it. For example, is the data for is actually a GIF image, it should
be sent as image/gif. If no appropriate Content-Type has been
registered for the data type, it should be sent as an
application/octet-stream.
The first four bytes of an AppleDouble header are, in hexadecimal:
00, 05, 16, 07.
The AppleDouble header is binary data. Hence, it may be necessary to
perform a Content-Transfer-Encoding for transmission, depending on
the underlying email transport environment. The safest encoding is
Base64, since it permits transfer over the most restrictive channels.
Even though an AppleDouble file includes the original Macintosh
filename, it is recommended that a name parameter be included on the
Content-Type header of both the header and data parts of the
AppleDouble file to give the recipient a hint as to what file is
attached. The value of the name parameter must be a "value" as
defined by RFC-1521 [BORE93]. Note that this restricts the value to
seven-bit US-ASCII characters.
4a. AppleDouble example
Content-Type: multipart/appledouble; boundary=mac-part
--mac-part
Content-Type: application/applefile; name="My-new-car"
[The AppleDouble header goes here]
--mac-part
Content-Type: image/gif;
[The data fork goes here]
--mac-part--
5. References
BORE93 Borenstein N., and N. Freed, MIME (Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions): Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing
the Format of Internet Message Bodies, RFC 1521, Bellcore,
Innosoft, September 1993.
APPL90 AppleSingle/AppleDouble Formats for Foreign Files
Developer's Note, Apple Computer, Inc., 1990
6. Security Considerations
To the extent that application/applefile facilitates the transmission
of operating-system sensitive data, it may open a door for easier
relaxation of security rules than is intended either by the sender of
the administrator of the sender's system.
7. Acknowledgements
Thanks to all of the people on the ietf-822 list who have provided
much meaningful input for this document. Some of them must though be
remembered by name, because they have almost crushed my mailbox with
a very nice and interesting debate:
Johan Berglund, Steve Dorner, David Gelhar, David Herron, Lee
Jones, Raymond Lau, Jamey Maze, John B. Melby, Jan Michael
Rynning, Rens Troost and Peter Svanberg.
10. Authors' Addresses
Patrik Faltstrom
Department of Numerical Analysis and Computing Science
Royal Institute of Technology
S-100 44 Stockholm
Sweden
EMail: paf@nada.kth.se
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg Consulting
675 Spruce Dr.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
EMail: dcrocker@mordor.stanford.edu
Erik E. Fair
Engineering Computer Operations
Apple Computer Inc.
EMail: fair@apple.com
Appendix A. The AppleSingle format
In the AppleSingle format, a file's contents and attributes are
stored in a single file in the foreign file system. For example,
both forks of a Macintosh file, the Finder information, and an
associated comment are arranged in a single file with a simple
structure.
An AppleSingle file consists of a header followed by one or more data
entries. The header consists of several fixed fields and a list of
entry descriptors, each pointing to a data entry. Each entry is
optional and may or may not appear in the file.
AppleSingle file header:
Field Length
Magic number 4 bytes
Version number 4 bytes
Filler 16 bytes
Number of entries 2 bytes
Entry descriptor for each entry:
Entry ID 4 bytes
Offset 4 bytes
Length 4 bytes
Byte ordering in the file fields follows MC68000 conventions, most
significant byte first. The fields in the header file follow the
conventions described in the following sections.
Magic number
This field, modelled after the UNIX magic number feature,
specifies the file's format. Apple has defined the magic number
for the AppleSingle format as $00051600 or 0x00051600.
Version number
This field denotes the version of AppleSingle format in the event
the format evolves (more fields may be added to the header). The
version described in this note is version $00020000 or
0x00020000.
Filler
This field is all zeros ($00 or 0x00).
Number of entries
This field specifies how many different entries are included in
the file. It is an unsigned 16-bit number. If the number of
entries is any number other than 0, then that number of entry
descriptors immediately follows the number of entries field.
Entry descriptors
The entry descriptor is made up of the following three fields:
Entry ID: an unsigned 32-bit number, defines what the entry is.
Entry IDs range from 1 to $FFFFFFFF. Entry ID 0 is
invalid.
Offset: an unsigned 32-bit number, shows the offset from the
beginning of the file to the beginning of the entry's
data.
Length: an unsigned 32-bit number, shows the length of the
data in bytes. The length can be 0.
Predefined entry ID's
Apple has defined a set of entry IDs and their values as follows:
Data Fork 1 Data fork
Resource Fork 2 Resource fork
Real Name 3 File's name as created on home file
system
Comment 4 Standard Macintosh comment
Icon, B&W 5 Standard Macintosh black and white icon
Icon, Colour 6 Macintosh colour icon
File Dates Info 8 File creation date, modification date,
and so on
Finder Info 9 Standard Macintosh Finder information
Macintosh File Info 10 Macintosh file information, attributes
and so on
ProDOS File Info 11 ProDOS file information, attributes and
so on
MS-DOS File Info 12 MS-DOS file information, attributes and
so on
Short Name 13 AFP short name
AFP File Info 14 AFP file, information, attributes and so
on
Directory ID 15 AFP directory ID
Apple reserves the range of entry IDs from 1 to $7FFFFFFF. The
rest of the range is available for applications to define their
own entries. Apple does not arbitrate the use of the rest of the
range.
Appendix B. The AppleDouble format
The AppleDouble format uses two files to store data, resources and
attributes. The AppleDouble Data file contains the data fork and the
AppleDouble Header file contains the resource fork.
The AppleDouble Data file contains the standard Macintosh data fork
with no additional header. The AppleDouble Header file has exactly
the same format as the AppleSingle file, except that it does not
contain a Data fork entry. The magic number in the AppleDouble
Header file differs from the magic number in the AppleSingle Header
file so that an application can tell whether it needs to look in
another file for the data fork. The magic number for the AppleDouble
format is $00051607 or 0x00051607.
The entries in the AppleDouble Header file can appear in any order;
however, since the resource fork is the entry that is most commonly
extended (after the data fork), Apple recommends that the resource
fork entry to be placed last in the file. The data fork is easily
extended because it resides by itself in the AppleDouble Data file.
Appendix C. applefile.h
This is an example of a header file for the language C which can be
used when parsing the data in either an AppleSingle file or
AppleDouble header.
The file is written by Lee Jones. Distribution is unlimited.
/* applefile.h - Data structures used by AppleSingle/AppleDouble
* file format
*
* Written by Lee Jones, 22-Oct-1993
*
* For definitive information, see "AppleSingle/AppleDouble
* Formats for Foreign Files Developer's Note"; Apple Computer
* Inc.; (c) 1990.
*
* Other details were added from:
* Inside Macintosh [old version], volumes II to VI,
* Apple include files supplied with Think C 5.0.1,
* Microsoft MS-DOS Programmer's Reference, version 5, and
* Microsoft C 6.00a's dos.h include file.
*
* I don't have ProDOS or AFP Server documentation so related
* entries may be a bit skimpy.
*
* Edit history:
*
* when who why
* --------- --- ------------------------------------------
* 22-Oct-93 LMJ Pull together from Inside Macintosh,
* Developer's Note, etc
* 26-Oct-93 LMJ Finish writing first version and list
* references
* 06-Feb-94 EEF Very minor cleanup
*/
/* Following items define machine specific size (for porting). */
typedef char xchar8; /* 8-bit field */
typedef char schar8; /* signed 8-bit field */
typedef unsigned char uchar8; /* unsigned 8-bit field */
typedef short xint16; /* 16-bit field */
typedef unsigned short uint16; /* unsigned 16-bit field */
typedef long xint32; /* 32-bit field */
typedef long sint32; /* signed 32-bit field */
typedef unsigned long uint32; /* unsigned 32-bit field */
/* REMINDER: the Motorola 680x0 is a big-endian architecture! */
typedef uint32 OSType; /* 32 bit field */
/* In the QuickDraw coordinate plane, each coordinate is
* -32767..32767. Each point is at the intersection of a
* horizontal grid line and a vertical grid line. Horizontal
* coordinates increase from left to right. Vertical
* coordinates increase from top to bottom. This is the way
* both a TV screen and page of English text are scanned:
* from top left to bottom right.
*/
struct Point /* spot in QuickDraw 2-D grid */
{
xint16 v; /* vertical coordinate */
xint16 h; /* horizontal coordinate */
}; /* Point */
typedef struct Point Point;
/* See older Inside Macintosh, Volume II page 84 or Volume IV
* page 104.
*/
struct FInfo /* Finder information */
{
OSType fdType; /* File type, 4 ASCII chars */
OSType fdCreator; /* File's creator, 4 ASCII chars */
uint16 fdFlags; /* Finder flag bits */
Point fdLocation; /* file's location in folder */
xint16 fdFldr; /* file 's folder (aka window) */
}; /* FInfo */
typedef struct FInfo FInfo;
/*
* Masks for finder flag bits (field fdFlags in struct
* FInfo).
*/
#define F_fOnDesk 0x0001 /* file is on desktop (HFS only) */
#define F_maskColor 0x000E /* color coding (3 bits) */
/* 0x0010 /* reserved (System 7) */
#define F_fSwitchLaunch 0x0020 /* reserved (System 7) */
#define F_fShared 0x0040 /* appl available to multiple users */
#define F_fNoINITs 0x0080 /* file contains no INIT resources */
#define F_fBeenInited 0x0100 /* Finder has loaded bundle res. */
/* 0x0200 /* reserved (System 7) */
#define F_fCustomIcom 0x0400 /* file contains custom icon */
#define F_fStationary 0x0800 /* file is a stationary pad */
#define F_fNameLocked 0x1000 /* file can't be renamed by Finder */
#define F_fHasBundle 0x2000 /* file has a bundle */
#define F_fInvisible 0x4000 /* file's icon is invisible */
#define F_fAlias 0x8000 /* file is an alias file (System 7) */
/* See older Inside Macintosh, Volume IV, page 105.
*/
struct FXInfo /* Extended finder information */
{
xint16 fdIconID; /* icon ID number */
xint16 fdUnused[3]; /* spare */
schar8 fdScript; /* scrip flag and code */
schar8 fdXFlags; /* reserved */
xint16 fdComment; /* comment ID number */
xint32 fdPutAway; /* home directory ID */
}; /* FXInfo */
typedef struct FXInfo FXInfo;
/* Pieces used by AppleSingle & AppleDouble (defined later). */
struct ASHeader /* header portion of AppleSingle */
{
/* AppleSingle = 0x00051600; AppleDouble = 0x00051607 */
uint32 magicNum; /* internal file type tag */
uint32 versionNum; /* format version: 2 = 0x00020000 */
uchar8 filler[16]; /* filler, currently all bits 0 */
uint16 numEntries; /* number of entries which follow */
}; /* ASHeader */
typedef struct ASHeader ASHeader;
struct ASEntry /* one AppleSingle entry descriptor */
{
uint32 entryID; /* entry type: see list, 0 invalid */
uint32 entryOffset; /* offset, in octets, from beginning */
/* of file to this entry's data */
uint32 entryLength; /* length of data in octets */
}; /* ASEntry */
typedef struct ASEntry ASEntry;
/* Apple reserves the range of entry IDs from 1 to 0x7FFFFFFF.
* Entry ID 0 is invalid. The rest of the range is available
* for applications to define their own entry types. "Apple does
* not arbitrate the use of the rest of the range."
*/
#define AS_DATA 1 /* data fork */
#define AS_RESOURCE 2 /* resource fork */
#define AS_REALNAME 3 /* File's name on home file system */
#define AS_COMMENT 4 /* standard Mac comment */
#define AS_ICONBW 5 /* Mac black & white icon */
#define AS_ICONCOLOR 6 /* Mac color icon */
/* 7 /* not used */
#define AS_FILEDATES 8 /* file dates; create, modify, etc */
#define AS_FINDERINFO 9 /* Mac Finder info & extended info */
#define AS_MACINFO 10 /* Mac file info, attributes, etc */
#define AS_PRODOSINFO 11 /* Pro-DOS file info, attrib., etc */
#define AS_MSDOSINFO 12 /* MS-DOS file info, attributes, etc */
#define AS_AFPNAME 13 /* Short name on AFP server */
#define AS_AFPINFO 14 /* AFP file info, attrib., etc */
#define AS_AFPDIRID 15 /* AFP directory ID */
/* matrix of entry types and their usage:
*
* Macintosh Pro-DOS MS-DOS AFP server
* --------- ------- ------ ----------
* 1 AS_DATA xxx xxx xxx xxx
* 2 AS_RESOURCE xxx xxx
* 3 AS_REALNAME xxx xxx xxx xxx
*
* 4 AS_COMMENT xxx
* 5 AS_ICONBW xxx
* 6 AS_ICONCOLOR xxx
*
* 8 AS_FILEDATES xxx xxx xxx xxx
* 9 AS_FINDERINFO xxx
* 10 AS_MACINFO xxx
*
* 11 AS_PRODOSINFO xxx
* 12 AS_MSDOSINFO xxx
*
* 13 AS_AFPNAME xxx
* 14 AS_AFPINFO xxx
* 15 AS_AFPDIRID xxx
*/
/* entry ID 1, data fork of file - arbitrary length octet string */
/* entry ID 2, resource fork - arbitrary length opaque octet string;
* as created and managed by Mac O.S. resoure manager
*/
/* entry ID 3, file's name as created on home file system - arbitrary
* length octet string; usually short, printable ASCII
*/
/* entry ID 4, standard Macintosh comment - arbitrary length octet
* string; printable ASCII, claimed 200 chars or less
*/
/* This is probably a simple duplicate of the 128 octet bitmap
* stored as the 'ICON' resource or the icon element from an 'ICN#'
* resource.
*/
struct ASIconBW /* entry ID 5, standard Mac black and white icon */
{
uint32 bitrow[32]; /* 32 rows of 32 1-bit pixels */
}; /* ASIconBW */
typedef struct ASIconBW ASIconBW;
/* entry ID 6, "standard" Macintosh color icon - several competing
* color icons are defined. Given the copyright dates
* of the Inside Macintosh volumes, the 'cicn' resource predominated
* when the AppleSingle Developer's Note was written (most probable
* candidate). See Inside Macintosh, Volume V, pages 64 & 80-81 for
* a description of 'cicn' resources.
*
* With System 7, Apple introduced icon families. They consist of:
* large (32x32) B&W icon, 1-bit/pixel, type 'ICN#',
* small (16x16) B&W icon, 1-bit/pixel, type 'ics#',
* large (32x32) color icon, 4-bits/pixel, type 'icl4',
* small (16x16) color icon, 4-bits/pixel, type 'ics4',
* large (32x32) color icon, 8-bits/pixel, type 'icl8', and
* small (16x16) color icon, 8-bits/pixel, type 'ics8'.
* If entry ID 6 is one of these, take your pick. See Inside
* Macintosh, Volume VI, pages 2-18 to 2-22 and 9-9 to 9-13, for
* descriptions.
*/
/* entry ID 7, not used */
/* Times are stored as a "signed number of seconds before of after
* 12:00 a.m. (midnight), January 1, 2000 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
* Applications must convert to their native date and time
* conventions." Any unknown entries are set to 0x80000000
* (earliest reasonable time).
*/
struct ASFileDates /* entry ID 8, file dates info */
{
sint32 create; /* file creation date/time */
sint32 modify; /* last modification date/time */
sint32 backup; /* last backup date/time */
sint32 access; /* last access date/time */
}; /* ASFileDates */
typedef struct ASFileDates ASFileDates;
/* See older Inside Macintosh, Volume II, page 115 for
* PBGetFileInfo(), and Volume IV, page 155, for PBGetCatInfo().
*/
/* entry ID 9, Macintosh Finder info & extended info */
struct ASFinderInfo
{
FInfo ioFlFndrInfo; /* PBGetFileInfo() or PBGetCatInfo() */
FXInfo ioFlXFndrInfo; /* PBGetCatInfo() (HFS only) */
}; /* ASFinderInfo */
typedef struct ASFinderInfo ASFinderInfo;
struct ASMacInfo /* entry ID 10, Macintosh file information */
{
uchar8 filler[3]; /* filler, currently all bits 0 */
uchar8 ioFlAttrib; /* PBGetFileInfo() or PBGetCatInfo() */
}; /* ASMacInfo */
typedef struct ASMacInfo ASMacInfo;
#define AS_PROTECTED 0x0002 /* protected bit */
#define AS_LOCKED 0x0001 /* locked bit */
/* NOTE: ProDOS-16 and GS/OS use entire fields. ProDOS-8 uses low
* order half of each item (low byte in access & filetype, low word
* in auxtype); remainder of each field should be zero filled.
*/
struct ASProdosInfo /* entry ID 11, ProDOS file information */
{
uint16 access; /* access word */
uint16 filetype; /* file type of original file */
uint32 auxtype; /* auxiliary type of the orig file */
}; /* ASProDosInfo */
typedef struct ASProdosInfo ASProdosInfo;
/* MS-DOS file attributes occupy 1 octet; since the Developer Note
* is unspecific, I've placed them in the low order portion of the
* field (based on example of other ASMacInfo & ASProdosInfo).
*/
struct ASMsdosInfo /* entry ID 12, MS-DOS file information */
{
uchar8 filler; /* filler, currently all bits 0 */
uchar8 attr; /* _dos_getfileattr(), MS-DOS */
/* interrupt 21h function 4300h */
}; /* ASMsdosInfo */
typedef struct ASMsdosInfo ASMsdosInfo;
#define AS_DOS_NORMAL 0x00 /* normal file (all bits clear) */
#define AS_DOS_READONLY 0x01 /* file is read-only */
#define AS_DOS_HIDDEN 0x02 /* hidden file (not shown by DIR) */
#define AS_DOS_SYSTEM 0x04 /* system file (not shown by DIR) */
#define AS_DOS_VOLID 0x08 /* volume label (only in root dir) */
#define AS_DOS_SUBDIR 0x10 /* file is a subdirectory */
#define AS_DOS_ARCHIVE 0x20 /* new or modified (needs backup) */
/* entry ID 13, short file name on AFP server - arbitrary length
* octet string; usualy printable ASCII starting with
* '!' (0x21)
*/
struct ASAfpInfo /* entry ID 12, AFP server file information */
{
uchar8 filler[3]; /* filler, currently all bits 0 */
uchar8 attr; /* file attributes */
}; /* ASAfpInfo */
typedef struct ASAfpInfo ASAfpInfo;
#define AS_AFP_Invisible 0x01 /* file is invisible */
#define AS_AFP_MultiUser 0x02 /* simultaneous access allowed */
#define AS_AFP_System 0x04 /* system file */
#define AS_AFP_BackupNeeded 0x40 /* new or modified (needs backup) */
struct ASAfpDirId /* entry ID 15, AFP server directory ID */
{
uint32 dirid; /* file's directory ID on AFP server */
}; /* ASAfpDirId */
typedef struct ASAfpDirId ASAfpDirId;
/*
* The format of an AppleSingle/AppleDouble header
*/
struct AppleSingle /* format of disk file */
{
ASHeader header; /* AppleSingle header part */
ASEntry entry[1]; /* array of entry descriptors */
/* uchar8 filedata[]; /* followed by rest of file */
}; /* AppleSingle */
typedef struct AppleSingle AppleSingle;
/*
* FINAL REMINDER: the Motorola 680x0 is a big-endian architecture!
*/
/* End of applefile.h */
AI ELI5
On this page
§1Why Macintosh Files Are Different
A Macintosh file consists of two parts called forks. The data fork holds the actual data and is typically the only meaningful part on a non-Macintosh computer. The resource fork holds a collection of arbitrary attribute/value pairs, including program segments, icon bitmaps and parametric values. The Finder also keeps more information about each file in a hidden file called the Desktop Database.
A filesystem on another kind of computer stores consecutive data in one part, so it is common to convert a Macintosh file into some other format before sending it over a network. This memo describes how to do that inside MIME mail, in a way that is compatible with existing ways of distributing Macintosh files while giving non-Macintosh systems access to data in standard formats.
A Mac file has a main part and a helper part with things like icons. Other computers only understand the main part, so mailing the whole file needs a plan.
§2AppleSingle and AppleDouble
Two Apple formats are used, both described in an Apple developer's note. AppleSingle encodes a Macintosh file as one byte stream. AppleDouble is similar, except that the data fork is separated from the Macintosh-specific parts.
AppleDouble is the preferred format for a Macintosh file in an Internet mail message. Recipients with Macintosh computers get the entire document, including icons and other Macintosh-specific information, while other users can easily extract the data fork because it is separate from the AppleDouble encoding.
AppleSingle packs everything in one bag. AppleDouble uses two bags, so people who only want the main part can grab it without opening the other one.
§3Choosing a Format
Not every Macintosh document needs special treatment. A document with a well-known MIME type and a non-existent or trivial resource fork can be sent as a regular MIME body part, with no AppleSingle or AppleDouble at all.
A document that lacks a data fork must be sent as AppleSingle. Unless there are strong reasons not to, every other document should normally be sent as AppleDouble. That includes documents with non-trivial resource forks and documents without a corresponding well-known MIME type. The RFC adds that it may be valuable to let the user choose one format over another, for example because the user disagrees with the implementor's idea of a trivial resource fork.
If a file is plain, just send it normally. If it has no main part, use one bag. For most other Mac files, use two bags.
§4The MIME Types and Their Use
The RFC registers two types. application/applefile carries AppleSingle data, or the header half of AppleDouble. It has no required parameters and an optional NAME parameter, which must be a value as defined in RFC 1521. Because it contains binary data it will typically need Content-Transfer-Encoding: BASE64. multipart/appledouble has the same parameters and no encoding considerations.
An AppleSingle file is sent as the one and only part, in an application/applefile message. An AppleDouble file is sent as a multipart/appledouble body part that may have only two sub-parts: the header (resource fork and desktop information) as application/applefile, and the data fork as whatever type best describes it, for example image/gif. If no suitable type is registered, the data fork goes out as application/octet-stream.
The first four bytes of an AppleSingle header are, in hexadecimal, 00, 05, 16, 00. For an AppleDouble header they are 00, 05, 16, 07. The safest transfer encoding is Base64, since it works over the most restricted channels. A name parameter is recommended to hint at the file being attached, but since its value must be a value from RFC 1521 it is limited to seven-bit US-ASCII characters.
The email says which kind of bag it is with a label. The Mac helper part gets one label, and the main part gets whatever label fits, like picture or plain bytes.
§5Examples
The RFC gives a one-line AppleSingle example, Content-Type: application/applefile; name="Computers-1/2-93", followed by the AppleSingle file.
Its AppleDouble example uses multipart/appledouble with the boundary mac-part. The first part is the application/applefile header with the name My-new-car. The second part is the data fork, here labeled image/gif.
The example shows an email with two parts: the Mac helper part first, then the picture itself.
Content-Type: multipart/appledouble; boundary=mac-part
--mac-part
Content-Type: application/applefile; name="My-new-car"
[The AppleDouble header goes here]
--mac-part
Content-Type: image/gif;
[The data fork goes here]
--mac-part--§6Inside the AppleSingle Header
Appendix A summarizes the Apple format. A file is a header followed by one or more data entries, each of which is optional. The header has a magic number (4 bytes), a version number (4 bytes), a filler (16 bytes) and a number of entries (2 bytes). Each entry then has a descriptor with an Entry ID, an Offset and a Length, 4 bytes each. Fields use MC68000 byte order, most significant byte first.
The magic number is 0x00051600 for AppleSingle and 0x00051607 for AppleDouble, so an application can tell whether it must look elsewhere for the data fork. The version described is 0x00020000. Entry IDs run from 1 to $FFFFFFFF, with 0 invalid. Apple reserves 1 to $7FFFFFFF, and the rest is free for applications to define.
An AppleDouble header file has the same format as AppleSingle but has no data fork entry. Apple recommends placing the resource fork entry last, because it is the entry most commonly extended after the data fork. Appendix C is a C header file, applefile.h, showing structures for parsing both formats.
The header is a table of contents. It says what kind of file this is and where each piece, like the icon or the main data, starts and how long it is.
| Field | Name | Size | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
MAGIC | Magic number | 4 bytes | 0x00051600 | 0x00051600 for AppleSingle, 0x00051607 for AppleDouble. |
VERSION | Version number | 4 bytes | 0x00020000 | Version 2 of the format. |
FILLER | Filler | 16 bytes | All zeros. | |
ENTRIES | Number of entries | 2 bytes | How many entry descriptors follow; an unsigned 16-bit number. |
- 1Data Fork — The data fork.
- 2Resource Fork — The resource fork.
- 3Real Name — File's name as created on home file system.
- 4Comment — Standard Macintosh comment.
- 5Icon, B&W — Standard Macintosh black and white icon.
- 6Icon, Colour — Macintosh colour icon.
- 8File Dates Info — File creation date, modification date, and so on.
- 9Finder Info — Standard Macintosh Finder information.
- 10Macintosh File Info — Macintosh file information, attributes and so on.
- 11ProDOS File Info — ProDOS file information, attributes and so on.
- 12MS-DOS File Info — MS-DOS file information, attributes and so on.
- 13Short Name — AFP short name.
- 14AFP File Info — AFP file information, attributes and so on.
- 15Directory ID — AFP directory ID.
§7Security Considerations
The RFC gives one caution. To the extent that application/applefile carries operating-system sensitive data, it may open a door for easier relaxation of security rules than the sender, or the administrator of the sender's system, intended.
The Mac helper part carries special information about the computer, which could let something slip through that the sender did not mean to allow.