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XaBatch

lastuseddate#PS.

XaBatch takes over where xabatch left off. xabatch is a powerful admin tool for cleaning up filesystems, used in 'batch' mode, preferably through a CLIX script. XaBatch is the Cocoa/GUI equivalent.



XaBatch opens xabatch files, edits them, saves them, then does runs on the files of your choice.



It's very fast and rather cool to use.

Extended Attributes

Extended attributes, ACLs: how do you see them? How do you get at them? How much is hidden beyond your view on what you think are your own innocent files? This all shows up in the Xfile System but what can you do to control it?

Do you remember how Oompa Loompa crept in? The people at MR sure do. What can you do about it? Up to now not much - but thanks to XaBatch and Rixstep's other extended attribute tools, that's all changed.

You now can get at all the 'extended attributes' attached to any item in your filesystem, even add news ones if you like.

You can also work with Xscan to filter out and remove all extended attributes in your own personal files. First launch Xscan and set it to scour your home area for extended attributes; then drop the results on the XaBatch window. Set to go, cleaned in no time.

com.apple.quarantine

Anything coming down off the web today is marked with com.apple.quarantine if Apple have anything to say about it. That's a frenetic approach to personal security. But once the files are used locally, that attribute should be gone. But it's not - not all the time. It takes longer for the system to open a file contaminated with com.apple.quarantine. Once you know it's safe, you need that attribute gone.

There are dozens of other XAs already in use, many of them placeholders for things to come that might never arrive. Files get cluttered like the Windows start menu.

lastuseddate#PS

10.14 Mojave brings the obsequious (and mysterious) com.apple.lastuseddate#PS, which goes on any file you so much as open.



This seems to have, as the name implies, a 'last accessed' time stamp, which should be identical with the item's filesystem information. One thing is certain: it's annoying.

No More Oompas!

And no more Oompas either. Starting now, you can control everything in your filesystem. Starting now, you can be fully protected.

Got a Minute?

Here's XaBatch in action, cleansing nearly 95,000 files of 16 XAs (1,509,552 operations) in one minute flat. Fast enough?

See Also
XaBatch Nighttime
Xattr: No More Oompas
Industry Watch: xabatch
Xfile System: Super Software
ACP Gurus: More File Stuff (2)
ACP Gurus: Managing File Attributes
Learning Curve: The xargs Speed Boost
Learning Curve: On File Management (5)
Industry Watch: The Legend of Oompa Loompa
Developers Workshop: Document Specific Extended Attributes
Developers Workshop: Oh Where Oh Where Did My Resource Fork Go?

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