Fork Server Helper is a new system service making it possible for Mac OS X file servers to share Macintosh files with resource forks to a heterogeneous network environment without losing the fork data.
In a diverse environment consisting of Macintosh, Unix and Windows systems, the tool avoids problems arising when mixing the file service protocols AFP, NFS and CIFS/SMB: The different representations of resource forks used with those protocols can be reconverted by Fork Server Helper. Native forks, the AppleDouble representation (also known as "dot underscore files"), and the fork representation of Microsoft Services for Macintosh (AFP $DATA files) are supported. For the first time, file servers can now share Macintosh files using multiple protocols, and problems with fork emulation files are avoided.
Additionally, Fork Server Helper assists in simplifying different security policies used by the various sharing protocols: Users can optionally set customized permission settings for files in shared folders making it possible to freely distribute files among a group of cooperative users, no matter which file sharing protocol is used.
Fork Server Helper can be launched manually or run in the background as a system service. All features can be setup by an easy-to-use control window. Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server in version 10.1 or later are supported.
The demo version has all features except that you cannot run the helper service automatically in the background. Additionally, a demo mode panel will appear each time you launch the application.
