HELP! Indesign changes to Unix executable file

I have a Mac Xeon Dual core quad pro running an older Mac OSX and have recently bought a Macbook running OS 10.6.
On my old mac I use Indesign / Illustrator / Photoshop CS3 (no money to upgrade yet) and all works fine.
This week I transferred some Indesign files to my laptop to work in another office. The files show up as Unix executable files. They have the correct tags on the end of filenames and work fine on the old mac. Indesign and Illustrator have also been crashing on startup and I have had to dump out prefs twice now.
Illustrator files show up as Unix executable file as well and all have a grey icon.
I migrated everything over from the old mac to the laptop.
It is driving me mad as I have to trust that I can work on this out of the office.
If I upgrade to a newer version of the programmes will it solve the problem?
Any help gratefully received please!
PS I am a designer, so please use simple language - I do not have a lot of techie knowledge about macs
Thanks!

Thanks, Kappy. I've tried that but I get an error message saying "An error ocurred while changing...because not enough information is available." Could that mean that the action cannot be done because these files don't have extensions? When I go ahead and select to use Word to always open the file it only takes effect on that file. But the file remains a Unix Executable file.
Could anyone provide any further help with this issue?
Message was edited by: Karkula

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File type changed to Unix Executable File

Hello:
I restored a corrupt Word file from a back-up drive (files are backed up using a special rsync that splits data and metadata forks. I did not assemble the two forks before copying the file back to the production volume) into a production folder in a local machine. Now when I browse the volume from my networked computer all Word files without extensions show up as Unix Executable Files. I've cleared the Launch services in the networked machine with no results. If I browse from other networked computers file types are set correctly. The problem seems to be with this specific networked machine. What an I do to restore file types as they should be? Please, note the problem seems to be with the client machine not the file server.

Thanks, Kappy. I've tried that but I get an error message saying "An error ocurred while changing...because not enough information is available." Could that mean that the action cannot be done because these files don't have extensions? When I go ahead and select to use Word to always open the file it only takes effect on that file. But the file remains a Unix Executable file.
Could anyone provide any further help with this issue?
Message was edited by: Karkula

Files changing to unix executable files in leopard!

I'm having files show up as UNIX EXECUTABLE FILES in Leopard. these are Quark Xpress files and a few tiff files.
These were backup files sent from a client on a Mac, there were compressed using Zip software. Also the same files that were not compressed are DOCUMENT files.
What is happening that Leopard can not recognize these files?
I tried removing "com.apple.LaunchServices" files

I found that a number of Windows files copied across to an external HFS+ hard disk from a Windows PC using MacDrive showed as Unix executables.
It turned out that they files had Execute permissions set for all users.
You can change the "Execute" setting using chmod in the terminal, but a simpler solution is to install FileUtilsCM, a free context menu control available from http://www.abracode.com/free/cmworkshop/file_utils.html
It offers a variety of high level controls, including remove file type and creator; remove resource fork; clear "execute" Unix attribute.
I found this fixed the problem for my files. The "clear execute" control fixed the file type, and the "remove type & creator" command converted the type back to Plain text from Document.
I don't know if it will work for your problem, but could be worth a try. Works in Leopard 10.5.1 for me.
Slightly more control is available from Super Get Info from Barebones http://www.barebones.com/products/super/index.shtml
That's not free, however, but it does allow you to set the file type and creator.
DN

Unix executable file- in backup email files

Hello,
I've searched the discussions and found a few posts that resemble my question but nothing exactly/ nothing suggested has worked so far.
I have entire email files backed up to a LaCie drive- 2 actually. All of the email backup icons have been changed to "Unix executable file"- the icon is a grey box with "exec" on it.
The promising side is that the files are still large- 301 mgs, etc- so I would think there is still information in the file.
I've tried going into "Info" and changing "open with" to entourage or thunderbird. Or even Excel to see if I could get a tab delimited file and convert. Nothing has worked so far.
I've seen this before with other types of backup files as well. I haven't changed operating systems, have only been working on Macs, this has happened both on a wireless ethernet disk and a firewire drive.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
jz

Hi,
Never fear! Your original MacOS disks should include the developer tools. They call it xcode these days. By default it should install extra command line utilities in /Developer/Tools. So really the command should look like:
/Developer/Tools/SetFile -t 'TEXT' -c 'CSOm' your_mbox
You can add /Developer/Tools to your $PATH variable to avoid the extra typing. But you can do that later. Just replace your_mbox with the path to one of your Eudora mail boxes that you've copied back to your harddrive.
Cole

Unix executable file won't open HELP!

I am having the same problem as one other person, my word folder has changed to a Unix executable file and I can't open the content in the folders anymore. I was just using the folder yesterday and now they are now working. Please help!

I'm not sure if this is your problem. But I was futzing with a file, and intentionally removed most of it's attributes, as reported by the mdls command.
I was able to get enough of them back, for the file to be recognized by the finder again.
This command lists the different importers.
$ mdimport -L
find the one that matches the filetype. Then run the following, where testfile is the file that you're having problems with.
mdimport -g /System/Library/Spotlight/XXXXXX.mdimporter testfile
I don't use Word, so I can't tell you the name of the importer file that you need. It may be possible to just
run
mdimport testfile
Nils

Unix Executable files - need help to open

Hi folks, sorry i have been looking through previous discussions re these type of files but its all well and truley above me. I have been given a video file and when copied to 'finder' it showed it was a unix executable file and it opened Terminal, again made no sense to me. I was informed to download MPEG Streamclip with no luck and the jargon I have read is goobledegook to me, sorry. Can anyone help pls in simple terms????

One thing you could try is to drop one of the files on to the vlc video player. If the file is truely a video file then odds are vlc will figure that out and be able to play it. It also has a menu to tell you info about the file so you could figure out what kind of file it actually is.
In the case of windows .wmv files you should add Flip4Mac. That would allow you to play those with QuickTime.
Similarly add Perian to add more power to QuickTime so that it too could possibly handle those files like vlc.

Need help opening Unix Executable Files

I've recently been given the task of updating various files containing instruction manuals. However, the person who created these files is long gone and no one seems to know what program they were created in. All I know is that they are listed as "Unix Executable File" when I click on the document. I've tried opening them in TextEdit and this does me no good. Does anyone know how I can determine what program these files were originally created in so that I can open them?

Files that have no filename extensions (used by Windows and OS X, but not by OS 9) and have lost their Type and Creator codes (used by OS 9, but not by Windows or OS X), and are then written to a DOS-formatted disc by OS 9 and copied back to a Mac disc, are usually if not always misidentified by the OS X Finder as Unix executables.
Your company's old files, created in applications that ran in OS 9, probably have never had any filename extensions. Their Type and Creator codes have evidently been lost; those are what OS 9 uses to link the files to the applications that created them. If the files have also been written by OS 9 to any disk or flash drive formatted for Windows, i.e. FAT16 or FAT32, they have also lost their resource forks. The resource fork is a portion of a Mac file that has no analogous structure in a PC file. When a Mac file that contains data in its resource fork is written by OS 9 to a PC-formatted storage device, there's no place in the Windows file structure for that data — so it is simply discarded. When the Mac file is later copied back onto a Mac-formatted storage device, its resource fork is gone along with whatever data it contained, and the file may for all practical purposes be destroyed. OS X handles writing Mac files to Windows-formatted drives more gracefully, but passing files back and forth between OS 9 and OS X via a Windows-formatted storage device is asking for trouble.
I don't know just what practices have been used in moving these files from the Macs they were created on to the one you're trying to open them on now, but I suspect there has been some unwitting demolition in the process.
If copies of these files are still stored on the old Mac on which they were created, and that Mac still works, get on it and double-click the saved copies of the files to open them in the program(s) that created them, and make notes of which application opens each of the files. Be aware that the folder structure containing the files may have to be preserved exactly as it is for the files to open properly — do not reorganize anything. It may be essential, for example, for a PageMaker file to be kept in the same folder as all the individual files that have been "placed" in it using the Place command in PageMaker. If any of those files are moved elsewhere, they may be missing from the PageMaker document when it opens. I've never used Quark or Freehand, so I don't know whether they have the same requirement, or other requirements that are less than obvious.
Any of the old manuals that you're able to open in their original applications can be saved as PDF files using an invaluable OS 9-based "printer driver" called PrintToPDF. They can then be opened in Adobe Reader or Preview on your G5 running OS X, though you won't be able to edit them easily. If you require the ability to edit these files on the G5, rather than on the old computer using the apps that originally created them, you will need first to discover which OS 9-based application created each one, and then ascertain what if any current OS X-based application is able to open the file format used by that old application. In the case of PageMaker files, that will probably be Adobe InDesign or nothing. InDesign may also open old Quark files; I don't know. Aldus or Adobe Freehand files may be openable using Adobe Illustrator. These are just guesses.
Dragging and dropping the files onto MS Word or TextWrangler may reveal, buried somewhere in them, the name of the application(s) that created them. I know a PageMaker file, opened as plain text, will always contain the word "PageMaker". As for other file formats, I'm not sure.
Message was edited by: eww
Message was edited by: eww

Help! FCE project files converted to unix executable files

I recently added a USB external drive and put my FCE project files on it. When I rebooted, the files now are unrecognizable by Final Cut Express as project files. In the finder they are now recognized only as unix executable files. Is there any way to reverse this problem. I really can't afford to lose all that work! Thanks

How is the drive formatted? If it's not Mac formatted you may have a problem. It may be recoverable. How many project files are you talking about? What about the media?

Old Quark files are now Unix Executable Files

I made hundreds of archive CD's with Mac's running OS 9 back in 1990's. They contain Quark files and .tif's. I've referred back to these CD's many many times over the years with no problems. My new iMac has the intel processor. I pop an archive CD in and all the files (with no extensions like "tif" or ".qkd" or ".eps") are now "Unix Executable Files" that won't open.
I simply add an extension to the images files (like ".tif") and they work. HOWEVER, it's not so easy with the Quark files. I add ".qkd" to the file name and it still remains a Unix file.
I launch Quark and try to open the file through the finder and it doesn't work. I took an archive CD to a friends house whose on a G5 and the CD worked properly with no extensions needed to be added.
So I figure the problem is with the Intel/PC based processor. I shouldn't have sold my old G5.
One forum claimed that a program called "File Buddy" did the trick for him. Does anyone have any other ideas other than me buying a non-Intel Mac.
I love our new iMacs but I need these archive CD's to work!
Thanks

I automatically run OnyX once a week for maintenance, but it didn't help this situation.
Those chores won't reset the LaunchServices database. Go to the Maintenance heading and click on the Reset tab. Turn on the check box for "LaunchServices database" (all other check boxes off). Click the Reset radio button and then Execute. Restart your Mac.
OS X will automatically rebuild the database according to the applications on your hard drive, giving preference to Apple applications as they would be when you first install OS X. So if you have the Acrobat Reader set up to open PDF files, you'll have to do that again as they will be set back to Preview.
Actually it's .qxd not .qkd for Quark XPress file extensions.
That's it! I knew .qkd was wrong, but Quark 6.x won't show you the old extensions when you save a file, and I couldn't remember it (been using InDesign steadily for a while now).

Photoshop .psd files converted to Unix Executable files

I'm an illustrator and I store my art on CDs and DVDs. After a period of time my files are converted from Photoshop .psd files to Unix Executable files and I can't open them. What can I do to get my work back??? -and keep this from happening in the future. Why does it do this????
Thanks for any help.

The file sizes range from 22.2 MB to 67.9 MB.
Size isn't the issue then. Linc was asking that question because we see that with other file types. Older fonts in particular, which have all of their data in the resource fork. If that gets stripped, you end up with a zero byte file.
Does that mean I'll have to go through the Adobe authorization process for Photoshop again?
If the version of Photoshop you're currently using is already activated, then no. Either way, it has nothing to do with .psd files showing as UNIX executables.
In Windows, any file that doesn't have an association to a program is displayed as a white, dog-eared piece of paper with the Windows logo in the middle. That's Windows' way of saying, "I have no idea what this is." In OS X, (except for those files which actually are UNIX executables), displaying them as such is OS X's way of saying the same thing.
I thought I was home free when the icon changed to a thumbnail picture of the illustration, but PS refuses to open it saying it is not a Photoshop file. ???
Now that is weird. As of Snow Leopard, Apple put the old Type and Creator codes to rest. It will read them as a last resort to try and identify an older file, but none of Apple's applications add them to any file they save. For better compatibility with Windows, and OS X's own underlying UNIX core, file extensions have taken their place. So adding a .psd extension should have worked. Without playing with one of your files, I couldn't tell you why Photoshop declared it wasn't a valid .psd image.
On a side note, Apple added Uniform Type Identifiers to OS X to keep things separate. A big problem in Windows is that multiple apps may use the same file extension. EPS is a big one in printing. So you have Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, Quark and others all using .eps for Encapsulated PostScript files. However, Windows can only associate one application to any given extension. So if Illustrator happens to be the one tagged to .eps files, it will try to open any file ending in .eps, no matter what program actually created it. OS X keeps them separate with Uniform Type Identifiers. So even though multiple files may have .eps file extensions, the extra metadata keeps track of what program it actually belongs to.
This is what is part of the LaunchServices database, and was why it was my first suggestion. If that database is wonky, you'll see weird things like this. Have you tried clearing it yet?
The files are fine when newly burned to CD. It is only months, or years, later that they become Unix Executable Files. This has happened to just about all of my CD backups and it's frustrating to think that CD backup doesn't work across newer OSs and Photoshop upgrades. I suspect that may be the problem, but it just shouldn't happen.
That shouldn't make a difference. I've got a bunch of very old files created in Photoshop back from OS 8 on CD. No file extensions, as nothing did at the time. Just Type and Creator codes. They all open fine in PS CS5.5 in Snow Leopard, though the native Photoshop files do need to have a .psd extension added.

Backup files are now Unix Executable files

I backed up my iPhone on my laptop (pc) but when i but transferred all my iPhone backup files to my iMac there was a couple of folders that are now Unix Executable files which are coincidentally are the same backups that I cant use to restore my iPhone without receiving an error message.
Also, is there a program that I can use to read the history.mapsdata file? Thanks

I automatically run OnyX once a week for maintenance, but it didn't help this situation.
Those chores won't reset the LaunchServices database. Go to the Maintenance heading and click on the Reset tab. Turn on the check box for "LaunchServices database" (all other check boxes off). Click the Reset radio button and then Execute. Restart your Mac.
OS X will automatically rebuild the database according to the applications on your hard drive, giving preference to Apple applications as they would be when you first install OS X. So if you have the Acrobat Reader set up to open PDF files, you'll have to do that again as they will be set back to Preview.
Actually it's .qxd not .qkd for Quark XPress file extensions.
That's it! I knew .qkd was wrong, but Quark 6.x won't show you the old extensions when you save a file, and I couldn't remember it (been using InDesign steadily for a while now).

Quark files show as unix executable files.

I have a strange issue. This is an all mac enviornment. The iMac's are running 10.4.11, and Quark express 6.0 One of the iMac's show the quark files as unix executable files. All of the other mac's can open the files without any issue.
On the iMac that has an issue, some of the folders show up as unix executable files as well. Also, there is a network share that is a log in item that should auto mount when the user logs in, it no longer mounts automatically. The only way to mount the share is by navigating through finder.
I was able to open one of the quark files by using open, then save the file using save as. this appended the file extension. I also enabled file extensions in finder, and manually appended the extension and they still would not associate with Quark. The file I did a save as does associate with Quark but it is the only one.
I repaired disk permissions and that did not help. Anyone have any ideas on this one?

I also couldn't find the download link for xsupport on the link you provided.
Looks like they have changed their business model. I just copied the URL out of the aboutbox of my copy of the Xsuppport toll but didn't crosscheck it.
Does that give any indication on what the problem is?
Not really, perhaps a corrupted or unreadable (by permission) .DS_Store file in the folder where your Xpress files reside, but then again that should affect other clients as well.
Which leads to the question:
When some clients have the correct mapping document <-> Quark Xpress and one (or more) other(s) don't, do you connect with different users to the server or are the users always the samr but the connection made from different machines?
If youuse different users to connect, then the problem very like is on the server side (addess rights, etc). If the same user has different results on different machines, the problem's most likely a local one. In which case you coud try all of ManiMenu's clean and deep clean actions.

Wav Files renamed... now they are UNIX EXECUTABLE FILES

Hello everybody!
I ran a script in terminal to batch rename something like 2K+ .wav files following an .csv list.
The list contained 2 columns, A: the original name and B: the new desired name.
for the ones interested the script is here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1886783&tstart=0
I ended up having the same 2k+ wav files perfectly renamed but the finder sees them as UNIX EXECUTABLE FILES.
Now all my audio apps can open them fine but the thing is that I need them to be listed as audio files in finder so I can preview them with QuickLook in the finder.
Anyone knows how to do this?
Renaming again using a different app (like Automator) did not work, file types and creator codes are blank. I have a utility that changes them but I don't know wich is the correct filetype and creator code....
Maybe you can shed some light on this issue....
Solved it myself. stripped the file of its extension. then replaced the extension.... worked!
Thanks!
Message was edited by: fhpetrone

Nevermind, I found this helpful page: http://www.thegaragedoor.com/roadcrew/samplerates.html.
btw, you could have found that same page on the B&B site, since that's where it came from:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials/SampleRateBitDepth.html

Fonts problems (unix executable file)

Hi,
I've a mac os x 10.4.11(tiger) G5 and a new mac os x 10.5.2(leopard)Imac both connected on a server.
I've many differents fonts on the server. On the G5, I can take all the fonts on the server, put them on my desktop and they will keep their extensions. On the Imac, when i do the same, only the *.ttf et *.otf are recognized, and all the others (font suitcase, postscript type 1 outline font, etc...) are known as unix executable file (0 ko). So, i've to go on my G5, create a zip file of the fonts, open my zip on my desktop's Imac (not on my server, because same problem) and then I've all my fonts with the right extension.
My font software is (on my both mac) is Linotype FontExplorer X Version 1.2.3.
What I've to do, to proceed in the same way on my Imac as on my G5, and not create a zip?
Thanks

I knew this sounded familiar. Mark Douma posted this on a very similar thread a while back.<hr>Notice the "__MACOSX" folder in the expanded archive? That's evidence that the original archive was created using the built-in "Create Archive" function of the Finder, but that the archive on your end was expanded using Stuffit Expander 8.0.1 or earlier.
ZIP files don't normally support resource forks, so when you create a zip file of fonts, the program needs to some method of preserving this information. In Stuffit Expander versions 8.0.1 and earlier, it used its own method to preserve this information (before creating the final zip file, it would first encode each included file as a MacBinary (.bin) file).
Unfortunately, the built-in "Create Archive" feature of the Finder (BomArchiveHelper.app, actually) uses a different method, one which you're seeing evidence in the "__MACOSX" folder in the images shown. Inside that folder are the "other halves" of the files you want to use.
There are two possible solutions:
1) Instead of using Stuffit Expander to expand the .zip files, use the built-in feature of OS X. To do this, select a .zip file in the Finder, and choose Command-i to open a Get Info window. In the Open With section, make sure that "BomArchiveHelper.app" (Tiger and earlier) or "Archive Utility.app" (Leopard) is set to open the archives. If it isn't, click the pop-up menu, choose Other, and navigate to the /System/Library/CoreServices/ folder and choose the appropriate application for your version of OS X. Then click the Change All button to apply this to all .zip files. Then locate the original .zip and expand it once again.
2) Update your version of Stuffit Expander to version 8.0.2 or later. Allume changed the method it used to preserve information in zip files to match that of the Finder's method in Expander 8.0.2 and later. After updating, locate the original .zip file and expand it once again.
There may also be an advanced way of salvaging these files shown toward the end of the following movie.
The following movie shows the predicament (I haven't had a chance to add sound or text, but it should hopefully be self-explanatory).
Notice the version of Stuffit Expander used to expand the archive is 8.0, which exhibits the same problematic behavior you're seeing:
http://homepage.mac.com/mdouma46/images/zipFilesAndFonts.mov (~8.0 MB).
Hope this helps.... <hr>
Essentially, it's all in how the fonts were compressed or sent. Trying to send Mac fonts as direct attachments in an email will almost certainly ruin them. As Mark stated above, how they were zipped and then unzipped can also create empty fonts.

Autosaved as Unix Executable Files after editing font size?

When I open a .txt file in TextEdit, and change the font, in the Finder I see a new Unix Executable File appear, with (Autosaved) after the file name. This is in addition to the original .txt file - so there are now 2 files of the same name showing.
However, when I manually save the file, the Unix exe file disappears from the Finder, leaving the newly saved .txt file.
Is this normal? If not, please let me know what else I can try to fix it. I've already tried both suggestions in this thread & neither of them worked.
Thanks!

Ok I noticed that TextEdit preferences shows an option to "delete the automatic backup file" so that's why it's disappearing...
...but what happens if TextEdit quits on me unexpectedly (which it has before)? Will I be able to open the autosaved Unix executable file with TextEdit or will it be "unrecognized?"
If anyone can give me confirmation that their autosaved files are Unix exe files and/or if they've been able to open the Unix exe backup files in the program they were created from, that would help.

HELP! Indesign changes to Unix executable file

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