Fully parses the .DS_Store files generated by macOS.
.DS_Store files contain records of the different properties (fields) of the files or directories of the directory of .DS_Store. These fields can specify things like modification dates, icons, backgrounds, comments, etc. This program parses, displays, and explains all the fields currently known in .DS_Store. (There's a lot!)
This program extracts more data than other similar programs that I can find, like gehaxelt / Python-dsstore or al45tair / ds_store, although the latter provides the function of writing .DS_Stores (which I am working on).
To list all the files and their properties:
python3 parse.py <.DS_Store file>If you want more specific usages, see the functions of the classes in the code. But the code above should suffice.
You can try running it against a random .DS_Store on the web or on your desktop, etc.
It's the file that every macOS developer knows (and hates) and any other person doesn't know. It can and has led to serious, juicy data breaches.
All Things Dork describes it as:
. . . Finder hides this file, so Mac Users are typically oblivious to it. But when you start working in a networked environment with Windows or Linux users you'll soon here [sic.] people screaming "WTF are all these .DS_Store files". Yes, our beloved OS X runs around like a hamster, shitting .DS_Store files all over the network in any folder we go to . . .
Since .DS_Store formats are proprietary, there aren't official specifications and current parsers and formats are more or less speculations.
It's worth noting that a large portion of the .DS_Store appears to be junk. Maybe the OS writes to the places that are convenient and doesn't care about .DS_Store sizes.
Below are some helpful links for .DS_Store. I used some of them. They are all a little out of date for the current macOS version, though.