How can I get rid of / hide :2eDS_Store files on my linux netatalk server?

Question

I'm running a netatalk server process on my linux server that serves files up to Mac client machines. Whenever you use Mac's Finder to access foreign filesystems over netatalk, it creates '.DS_Store' files to store information about the folder.

Normally, these files would be hidden by default, and I wouldn't care. Unfortunately, netatalk doesn't allow access to local hidden files, so when the Mac writes and reads these, it renames them :2eDS_Store on the local filesystem. When you have a deep tree, you end up with these littered all over the place, and other Windows and Linux clients have to deal with them.

How do I make these available to Mac clients and hidden from everyone else?

Answer 1

For each share in /etc/netatalk/AppleVolumes.default add options:usedots to make Netatalk create .DS_Store instead of :2eDS_Store. The files will still be there, but as dot-files they'll be invisible.

Answer 2

One workaround is to use TinkerTool or BlueHarvest on each Mac to disable the creation of .DS_Store files on non-local disks.

Answer 3

Here is a guide on how to disable it's creation on Macintosh based clients: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1629 (With out third party tools)

Answer 4

Haven't tried this one. (just brainstorming)

However, does anyone know whether unionfs can do the trick?

I mean, could we write those files to a specific tree? Where Linux and Windows clients would not see them.

Regards Mike
[;-)