I was successfully able to get the callback for file reads for the files in my mounted folder. Now we need to implement some read protection on top of that, we need to only allow some specific applications to access the data through the File provider. for that, we need to get the name or any information regarding the Application that requested the read. one thing I've seen is the request.requestingExecutable , which is coming nil for all the applications trying to read the files in the mounted folder. But i do get applications name for the things done by finder (drag&drop and Copy paste) . What are the ways I can get the reading Application names ? and what could be done for implementing data leak features working in pair with the File Provider Extension ?

Our application which isn't a sandboxed app tries to access(copies) the file from the URL given by the file provider to the application's cache path but fails with the 'operation not permitted' error. This happens in two cases 1. File Creation & 2. File Modification. Also, on checking the path, it is like "/Library/Application Support/FileProvider/{RandID}/wharf/wharf/propagate". Even we tried to access the folder using a Python script and run it via the terminal but it also failed with the same error. But when we enable the 'full disk access' option in the 'privacy & security' tab of the system settings for the application(our main app/terminal), the files can be accessed. Our application doesn't need the 'full disk access' instead it needs permission to access the file provider extension's cache path where the temp files were stored. How to get permissions for that folder and access the files (like setting the entitlement keys or other ways)? Or else Is there any way to inform the system to use our application cache path as the file provider's cache path? Any help would be appreciated.

So, I'm looking into startaccessingsecurityscopedresource() function and from my current understanding this is to get temporary access to files/folders you don't implicitly have access to i.e., that don't belong to your sandbox. I can understand what it means wrt macOS, iOS, iPadOS, but what does it mean in watchOS and tvOS where there isn't any file sharing between different apps? And what is it's relevance wrt using iCloud (if there is any?)

Hello, I'm having issues running a precompiled binary through Terminal. The binary is a custom fork of software used to send code to a microprocessor through USB. The distributor is a known company and they have the binaries working on their machine (but I don't know which version of macOS they use). I was running Ventura 13.2.1 on a 2021 M1 and upgraded to Sonoma 14.3.1 — neither worked. I'm using zsh. I symlink the location of the binary, and it returns File Exists however, when I try to run the command, I receive zsh: permission denied: command then, when I sudo the command, I receive sudo: command: command not found. If this binary is not signed by Apple, could this be the reason it's not working? Could it be because I have FileVault turned on? Are others having this issue in their applications? Thank you

For example I created a project aaa. aaa source folder is called aaa. that is aaa aaa/aaa then I put a data file in aaa/aaa/some.data now i want to test data in aaa/aaaTests/aaaTests.swift How can i access aaa/aaa/some.data in aaaTests.swift? If I want to access some.data inside aaa/aaa/ContentView.swift, how to write the code? I have been searching google and bing for days, but find no example answering my questions. Can anyone help me out? Thanks in advance.

I've defined a FileDocument with an init(configuration: ReadConfiguration) .... I've got a URL via .fileImporter - now I'd like to actually read and process (the JSON content). How do I get the ReadConfiguration from the URL? (And what would I search for to avoid this probably trivial issue?) Of course, I wrote the JSON file in the first place... so I could just read the contents as Data and decode it to JSON. But then what is the point of FileDocument other than to provide .fileExporter with a required argument?

I am trying to sync some metadata fields via NSFileProviderItem extendedAttributes and have been successful when using arbitrary tag names prefixed by "#S" This is good but pretty much useless as those fields won't be indexed by Spotlight and won't be displayed in Finder In order to have my fields displayed in Finder I am attempting to return the com.apple.metadata fields but they seem to be all systematically ignored with or without sync suffix. This is really a big limitation and surprising given the fact that the tagData call works beautifully to synchronised keywords that are then populated in the extended attributes and indexed by Spotlight. One more drop in the bucket of unanswered / undocumented questions in this forum ... Thanks for any help.

Hello, I had a strange bug in a File Provider app and I found out that the problem was that NSFileProviderEnumerator's invalidate() was called during an operation (a download or even a file enumeration operation from the server). The files are stored on a server and while fetchContent is called and the extension waits for the server to send the file (or enumerate a long list of files), invalidate() is called. And after some time the extension is re-initialised. I know that the extension can be deallocated by the OS from time to time, but why during an operation? If a do a cleanup inside invalidate() I will lose references to my downloads or operations. Any thoughts on this? Is there any way to prevent this? Thank you.

I have a Login Item that is bundled with my .app and can run in the background. The Login Item has a File Provider extension. When a user downloads and installs a new version of the main .app, what's the correct way to handle stopping and restarting the login item and File Provider related processes to make sure they are running the latest code also?

Hello, I have another quick question. I'm using NSFileProviderReplicatedExtension to create a macOS File Provider app to access remote files directly in Finder. When I copy a file to a remote folder (managed by File Provider) "createItem(basedOn itemTemplate: NSFileProviderItem, fields: NSFileProviderItemFields ....)" is triggered and this is fine. But immediately after the file is upload fetchContents(for itemIdentifier: NSFileProviderItemIdentifier, version ...)" is also triggered. Is this expected? Downloading again the file after upload requires some time and it's not the best experience for the user if he is in a hurry. Is there any way to prevent this? Thank you.

Hello folks, While the API for FileProviderUI is listed as supporting VisionOS 1.0, Xcode Cloud complains at the first step of the build with: "Unsupported Platform. The extension bundle LaTerminal.app/PlugIns/LaTerminalFileProviderUI.appex is not supported for this platform. Please refer to the App Extension Programming Guide at http://developer.apple.com." I also noticed that while you can create a FileExtension from Xcode, there is no template for creating the FileExtensionUI on Xcode for VisionOS projects. Could use some guidance as to what I could be doing wrong.

General: DevForums tags: Files and Storage, Finder Sync, File Provider, Disk Arbitration, APFS File System Programming Guide On File System Permissions DevForums post File Provider framework Finder Sync framework App Extension Programming Guide > App Extension Types > Finder Sync Disk Arbitration Programming Guide Mass Storage Device Driver Programming Guide Device File Access Guide for Storage Devices Apple File System Guide TN1150 HFS Plus Volume Format Extended Attributes and Zip Archives File system changes introduced in iOS 17 DevForums post Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Hello all, When copying a lot of files using NSFileProviderReplicatedExtension (more than 2000 files) to the a local storage, fetchContents is called for each file, but usually after around 2000 files, fetchContents is not called anymore. No errors, no invalidate() called, no cancelations, no log messages, just silence. Is there any explanation or solution for this behaviour? I want the extension to provide all files until the end. By the way, if the transfer fails, but you double click on the local folder a "Finish Copying" option is presented and after that fetchContents for the remaining files is called (which is good). Thank you.

Hello, Anyone know of relevant documentation that captures the difference between vfsStruct.f_fsid and fstat.st_ino ? sys/stat.h declares: ino_t st_ino; /* [XSI] File serial number */ AND sys/statvfs.h declares: unsigned long f_fsid; /* Filesystem ID */ Based on some tests, it seems that the st_ino is the number/inode_number that the filesystem identifies the file-resource by ? I observed that this number gets a unique value when I copy a file even when the Finder/FS utilizes the Space-Saver feature of MacOS. This value is identical to the results returned by the command ls "-i" . When copying via Finder, I am seeing distinct st_ino values for source and destination files. f_fsid seems to be identifying the File differently though, perhaps taking into account what Data/attributes objects the file resource points to ? I observed that this number gets an identical value when I copy a file even when the Finder/FS utilizes the Space-Saver feature of MacOS. So, the value of f_fsid seems to be copied over to the destination file record. Also, I could not find a way to display f_fsid via the ls command. On a related note, Any documentation regarding MacOS Finder/FS's Space-Saver feature or how it is implemented ? Thanks, Vikram.S.Warraich

I am trying to populate the Finder comment field from extendedAttributes with the code bellow but it doesn't work. Any idea why ? var extendedAttributes: [String : Data] { var attrs = [String: Data]() let comment = self.caption do { let xmlPlistData = try PropertyListSerialization.data(fromPropertyList: comment as Any, format: .xml, options: 0) attrs["com.apple.metadata:kMDItemFinderComment"] = xmlPlistData } catch { NSLog("Error during plist conversion: \(error)") } return attrs }

Hello, I'm having some problems in implementing a File Provider based app. NSFileProviderEnumerator is very slow for many files (over 2000 files). I'm using pagination like this: observer.didEnumerate(paged_files) // page size is usually 200 let nextPage = NSFileProviderPage((page + 1).description.data(using: .utf8)!) observer.finishEnumerating(upTo: nextPage) and observer.finishEnumerating(upTo: nil) when finished all pages. But after calling "observer.finishEnumerating(upTo: nil)" it still takes a lot of time (20-30 seconds) until all files are listed in Finder. Any tips? Thank you.

Hello, I have a quick question. In my File Provider based Mac application, if the user copies a folder to his computer, the "download" progress indicator near the folder name (the one from Finder) is showing only if the user entered the folder before. If the user did not enter the folder before and copies the folder, the progress indicator is showing always zero and jumps to 100% after the copy operation is over. Any thought on this? Thank you.

tl;dr I'm trying to get the FruitBasket demo to operate (Synchronizing files using file provider extensions | Apple Developer Documentation) on Sonoma 14.1.2. I'm probably being stupid about something but It doesn't work as I expect so would welcome any suggestions. Details I downloaded the FruitBasket demo code I attempted to carefully follow the README and replace all instances of group.com.example.apple-samplecode.FruitBasket I built and ran and created a domain My new domain appears in the Finder side-bar. It appears as a directory in ~Library/CloudStorage/. But attempting to (e.g.) ls ~/Library/CloudStorage/* gives me an ETIMEDOUT error and the Finder says something similar. Things that I observed: once a domain exists, there is indeed a Provider executable running. it never generates any log messages attaching the Xcode debugger to it and setting some seemingly likely to be invoked breakpoints (e.g. Extension.Extension.enumerator) never hit the breakpoints. my naïve take on the disassembly when pausing it suggests that it's waiting for incoming Mach messages. (That seemed sensible.) FruitBasket starts with an error: Couldn't read values in CFPrefsPlistSource<0x6000039853b0> (Domain group.org.liqui.apple-samplecode.FruitBasket, User: kCFPreferencesAnyUser, ByHost: Yes, Container: (null), Contents Need Refresh: Yes): Using kCFPreferencesAnyUser with a container is only allowed for System Containers, detaching from cfprefsd Questions Does the above error suggest that I have set the group value wrong somewhere? Maybe Extension+Servicing.swift:21 defining the NSFileProviderServiceName("com.example.FruitService") is mismatched somewhere?

Hi, Can a customized Pages document be created and integrated into an Apple Multiplatform App? Thank you!

hi,i want to create a NSFileProviderExtension , need add file for storage, but, i create a folder, xocde show a error : [ERROR] List of user interactions is not an array