Help--major Finder Bug?

M

mindbend

Registered
Sometime since going to 10.3.6, the following very bad problem has occurred semi-frequently.

File/folder names will change on their own

For example, from:
Midland-DOW-Compressor-Room-PANO.mov

to:
Midland-DOW-Compresso#24BE9.mov

I know that such a name is typical of an app that makes a temp file (InDesign, Dreamweaver, etc.), but this is different. I'm talking about files that are NOT temp files, but the normal file that is just changing in front of my eyes. In fact, the above example changed from the original, to the wrong name and back to the correct and finally to the wrong in a span of one minute. I was actually able to watch it change on its own.

This is a major problem obviously since it breaks links and otherwise screws up files.

Here's what I know:

It only seems to be happening on files that I access over the network from our iMac file server (not a real server). I have not seen it happen on local files.

All machines are running 10.3.6, although one of them was upgraded a week after the others.

My machine (one of three) is the only one that seems to experience this so far, but the other two don't get used nearly as much as mine.

If I manually rename the wrong name file sometimes it will pop back to the wrong name again.

It seems to only have happened on long file names.

I have not yet repaired permissions, which I will do now, but I wanted to get a headstart on the problem.

Thanks for any help.
 
Hm. I saw something similar a week or two ago, but I thought it was because I'd transferred some files from Windows...
 
After putting some more time into tracking down the problem, I can now duplicate it. Can someone please try to duplicate this with me? I am able to duplicate it on several machines.

1. Make sure all your machines are running 10.3.6
2. make a file with a long name (use any Adobe CS app, Flash or Final Cut HD). or rename an existing file to be excessively long (warning, you may lose the file, so make a copy)
3. save it over the network
4. open that long file named file over the network on your local machine's application. It should now show as truncated in that app.
5. Close the file, you will now see it renamed in the finder (on the network volume)


However, it is inconsistent. These applications do not exihbit the same problem. There are probably others, but I only tested a few.

Not Broken:
Fireworks
Textedit

So, something between how a given application sees and handles long file names over a network is now broken (my guess only since 10.3.6).

MAJOR BUG.

Finally, does anyone know where I can send this bug to at Apple?
 
From that link, the thing that really struck me:

only the Finder reported the filename being wrong. I fired up the Terminal and is a ls on the directory where the file resided. The Terminal always reported the file being named the original "This filename is way longer than thirty two characters.doc", regardless of what the Finder reported, even after saving changes on the distorted file in Word. Then, when I logged out of the server and logged back in, the Finder reported the name correctly again. Then, upon opening it in Word again, distortion continued in the Finder, but not in the Terminal.
Click to expand...

My guess on reading this is, that the file name on the server is not changed; the problem is only in the Finder's display of the filename (that we know of - moving the file with the Finder might do ugly things).

Can you confirm this mindbend?

And - the filename you quoted was 31 characters. That was the old OS <= 9 limit, wasn't it?
 
Sounds like whatever app you are using doesn't support long filenames. At least that's the characteristics of what would happen in OS 9.
 
I think this is a problem with the FIRST version of Microsoft Office v.X. I experience the same problem say in and day out with M$ Office v.X. To get around the problem, create your Borg Word document with a filename no longer than 32 characters. Save the file, quit Word, go to the Finder and rename the newly created file to whatever you want. Open the file, the filename will appear jumbled beyond recognition in MS Word; you can edit and save the file and it will be "OK" in the Finder, but "messed up in Word." It's a limitation Microsoft placed on us non-comformers with the first version of Borg Office; I don't think the newer versions have this problem.
 
This problem is not limited to Microsoft Office X or 2004. It's not Office, although you are correct in saying that the first version of Office X for Mac didn't support long filenames.

It seems to be a problem in network situations using a certain protocol (SMB, AFP, etc.).
 
Mmm - that's just how an OS 9 box reads long filenames when connected to an OS X share (to reiterate Captain Code). Do you have AppleTalk active for anything? Perhaps you could try killing it... I'd like that very much.

Gabs
 
Could it also be that only Carbon apps show the problem and Cocoa ones don't? I think it's wrong to blame the network/sharing code if some applications do work fine doing just the same... Either it's the apps' fault or a commonly-used framework (Carbon?) between the apps.
 
I think gdekadt is onto it. I think it's to do with AFP sharing, and the way the Finder reads the names.
 
Today, from MacFixIt;

Possible fix for filename truncation bug. We continue to cover an issue file names being truncated when copying files, especially when copying to/from a remote volume.

A new workaround for the issue, submitted by MacFixIt reader Stuart Ramdeen, has been verified by a number of independent users. Ramdeen writes:

"I have found that the kext /System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/afpfs.kext appears to be the culprit.

"The version that ships with 10.3.6 is 6.5.7, which I guess amongst other things, was supposed to improve afp performance and reliability with network home dirs (although that's for another discussion....). The version it replaces in 10.3.5 is 6.5.6. I have found that if you put version 6.5.6 back, the truncation problem goes away."

The easiest way to perform this workaround is to copy the aforementioned afpfs.kext file from a Mac that has not been upgraded to Mac OS X 10.3.6 and use it to replace the same file on the afflicted Mac OS X 10.3.6 system.

Alternatively, you can download the Mac OS X 10.3.5 combo updater, and use a tool like Pacifist to browse through its contents, locate version 6.5.6 of afpfs.kext and use it to replace the version installed by Mac OS X 10.3.6.
 
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