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Files converted to Unix Executable Files

I recently downloaded some old files that I'd saved to my iMac and many of them were converted to a 'Unix Executable File'. All of them were either Pagemaker, Quark, or Illustrator files from about 1991 thru 1994. I've searched, but haven't been able to find an answer that I could understand. I'm an graphic designer and my technical knowledge is limited. Might there be a program out there that can restore these files so that Adobe InDesign, or Illustrator can open them? Using 'Open With' doesn't work. I can see the text in them using TextEdit, but of course there is no formatting whatsoever. I really hope that someone can help me. Thanks everyone!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jul 4, 2010 7:39 AM

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11 replies

Jul 4, 2010 8:05 AM in response to goshoh

goshoh wrote:
I recently downloaded some old files that I'd saved to my iMac and many of them were converted to a 'Unix Executable File'. All of them were either Pagemaker, Quark, or Illustrator files from about 1991 thru 1994.


Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.

The problem is that OS X no longer honors the "creator codes" that used to tell what application to use. Now it depends strictly on the "extension" of each file name. One way around that is to add an extension (which I'll guess those file names lack) to every file name.

See this article http://db.tidbits.com/article/10780 for more information.

I've searched, but haven't been able to find an answer that I could understand. I'm an graphic designer and my technical knowledge is limited. Might there be a program out there that can restore these files so that Adobe InDesign, or Illustrator can open them? Using 'Open With' doesn't work.

It should work if you select "Other" at the bottom of the list and navigate to an application that should know how to deal with that type of file.

A comment to the TidBITS article mentions this utility that may be useful in restoring the old behavior:

http://chuchusoft.com/SLopen/index.html

I haven't tried that software.

Jul 4, 2010 9:20 AM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

Thank you Bill, I'll check out each of the links that you provided. I did try just adding an extension but that doesn't seem to work. Like I said, I'm not a technical person. There seems to be a lot of talk that the files must have, at some point, been written to a 'FAT32' format disk (?) and that their 'resource fork' has somehow been stripped from the files. Of course that is all Greek to me. I stumbled across someone who said that all Mac's should come equipped with a program that included the word 'X-ray' in it, specifically for this problem, but I didn't write it down and couldn't find that particular piece of advice/web site again.

Jul 4, 2010 9:31 AM in response to goshoh

goshoh wrote:
I did try just adding an extension but that doesn't seem to work.


Did you try "Open With/Other"?

There seems to be a lot of talk that the files must have, at some point, been written to a 'FAT32' format disk (?) and that their 'resource fork' has somehow been stripped from the files.


That might cause problems for some programs and could result in the loss of "creator codes", but that's no longer relevant.

I stumbled across someone who said that all Mac's should come equipped with a program that included the word 'X-ray' in it, specifically for this problem, but I didn't write it down and couldn't find that particular piece of advice/web site again.


I'm unaware of such a program.

Jul 4, 2010 9:48 AM in response to goshoh

All of them were either Pagemaker, Quark, or Illustrator files from about 1991 thru 1994.


Add the following extensions for each file type:

Quark XPress .qxd

Illustrator .ai

Pagemaker .pmd

a program that included the word 'X-ray' in it


He was referring to this one.

Edit: I was assuming native extensions for each application, but it does matter how you saved them. In particular, if you saved the Illustrator images in EPS format, then the extension must be .eps

Jul 4, 2010 10:02 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks Kurt. I have tried adding extensions (each, since I'm not sure which program created them way back then), but that doesn't work. I KNOW that the files are one of the three programs. What's odd is that I have many files from this historic disk. NONE of them have file extensions on them but some of them ARE identified as Quark documents in the 'Kind' column (and I do have 'show file extensions' turned on). It's only the files that have been categorized/identified by OSX as Unix Executable File(s) that cannot be opened by anything buy TextEdit.

Jul 4, 2010 10:35 AM in response to goshoh

but they state that it is compatible only up to OS X 10.4 PPC (?)


I downloaded and ran XRay in Snow Leopard. It works fine. What he wants you to use it for is to check the Type and Creator codes in each file. XRay is a shareware app that will time out. There are other free apps which can give you the same information. Such as MuchoFileInfo. You will need the free Stuffit Expander to open the downloaded file.

What's odd is that I have many files from this historic disk.


So this is a CD you burned from an older Mac running OS 9 or earlier? If so, the files should be okay, it's just a matter of opening them.

It's only the files that have been categorized/identified by OSX as Unix Executable File(s) that cannot be opened by anything buy TextEdit.


Could you post the names of a couple of them?

Jul 4, 2010 12:33 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Not sure what you mean by 'post the names of a couple of them'. After going through everything (which was a lot), the Quark files all seem to be identified as Quark files (and they open), the Illustrator files come across in any number of different ways, most often as simple text files (and they open). After looking at the TextEdit versions of a lot of the rest of the files, I'm pretty certain that they are all Pagemaker files. I'm wading through all of the issues I'm finding with Pagemaker/InDesign users, which is hard to fathom since Adobe bought Pagemaker years ago. I'm wondering if the problem could be with a plug-in that I'm missing and I need to do a trial version of Pagemaker Plug-In Pack for InDesign, convert the files and let the trial period expire, or get the shareware software XRay that I'm glad to hear works? Any thoughts?

Jul 4, 2010 2:04 PM in response to goshoh

Kurt buddy, you're the best! I haven't had the time to go all of the affected files yet, but XRay has worked on many of them. Of course I'm not really sure what the heck I'm doing, but I've been able to convert some, open them and save them. I'm going to leave this open for a day before I mark it solved in case another genius throws a tidbit of information my way. But your help made my day. Thanks!

Jul 4, 2010 2:55 PM in response to goshoh

Not sure what you mean by 'post the names of a couple of them'.


Just asking for you to copy/paste the names of a couple of files that are appearing as Unix executables in this forum discussion.

Illustrator files come across in any number of different ways, most often as simple text files (and they open).


That's because all older Illustrator documents (if I remember correctly, anything before version 9), is written pretty much as plain text. Anything newer is actually in PDF format, even though the extension for a native Illustrator document remains .ai

I'm wading through all of the issues I'm finding with Pagemaker/InDesign users, which is hard to fathom since Adobe bought Pagemaker years ago.


Adobe did buy Pagemaker, but sold it alongside InDesign for a while. It wasn't integrated into InDesign. Nor did InDesign come from reworking the code for Pagemaker. InDesign is it's own thing.

I'm wondering if the problem could be with a plug-in that I'm missing and I need to do a trial version of Pagemaker Plug-In Pack for InDesign, convert the files and let the trial period expire.


That's what I'd do. You only need it long enough to convert your Pagemaker documents to InDesign. You'll never use it again after that. This assuming there is such a thing. I've never looked for one.

but XRay has worked on many of them.


Guessing a bit, but it is probably assigning the correct UTI (Uniform Type Identifiers) to the files as you open them. UTI is the replacement for the old Type and Creator codes.

Files converted to Unix Executable Files

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