macOS Journal DB filename with dot underscore

[guruz]

@dragotin did you notice that a filename like ._sync_7d56ce96981f.db is COMPLETELY INVISIBLE in Finder while .csync_journal.db is visible in light grey if you have
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES set.

Did we think about the implications this could have for end users when moving files/folders/directories etc? @michaelstingl

But maybe normal users anyway don't have AppleShowAllFiles set?

FYI @ckamm @ogoffart @SamuAlfageme

Feel free to close this issue, I just wanted to mention it.

[michaelstingl]

Did we think about the implications this could have for end users when moving files/folders/directories etc

If someone moves the full sync folder, it's included. I don't see a "real" problem,

[ogoffart]

There was another issue because of ._ in the name: #5633 (but that was fixed by removing the _ for samba shares)

[matthiasschroder]

The problem is not only that it is hidden because of the leading dot, it is even a special hidden file. macOS reserves the ._xyz for storing extended attributes of a file xyz on filesystems that do not support extended attributes. As such the Finder will never display or make accessible in any form an item called ._xyz, even if the Show Hidden Files is activ. ._xyz is very special, and never ever visible. So using ._syncNNNNN is very bad prctice

[labkode]

@guruz @michaelstingl @ogoffart as @matthiasschroder described, we usually have to ask the user for this file while doing support as the owncloud sync longs are not enough for debugging the problem.
Having this file completely invisible (and we do not want to ask end-users to type commands in a Termninal) makes our support life more difficult. If there is not any strong technical reason for having that prefix I propose to change it back to .csync_journal.db or somethink alike.

[ckamm]

Since the effects from ._ were accidental we likely want to address this by changing the db name. A primary concern with the name was making sure it's excluded from sync. That was the prime reason for the ._ prefix in the first place; we were not aware of the OSX complications at that time.

[guruz]

@ckamm maybe the code here could just be swapped around a bit to prefer the non-underscore-path?
4291ea4#diff-0b6f105ffd4493a278873f32b7c170c1R84

[ckamm]

@guruz Yes. We needed ._sync for client versions <= 2.3.2 apparently. Now that we don't support these versions anymore we could go for plain .sync by default. Since the journal file name is stored in the config it'd be easy and safe to do this for new folders without needing lots of migration code.

[ckamm]

New databases will be created with the .sync_ prefix.

[labkode]

@ckamm @guruz Thank you!

[HanaGemela]

New databases are created with the .sync_ prefix
Tested in 2.6.0alpha2 (build 12128), macOS 10.14.5