[seabass]

Never understood why it had to be in the same folder. Can’t the os have its own little db somewhere that has a reference to each path?

[stereo]

The idea was that metadata, for example a file’s label, would travel across to whichever device you use the network drive from.

[tambourine_man]

But classic Mac OS stored “Desktop DB” and “Desktop DF” at the root of each mounted drive, IIRC.

It seems like a better solution.

[jojobas]

Yeah, because such devices are only made by Apple and can or should understand Apple's internal format.

[neerajsi]

Putting in in the folder is also nice in that it naturally gets deleted when the folder is deleted

[earthboundkid]

All file operations have been watched by Spotlight since forever at this point.

[threeseed]

Except for ignored file types and folders you marked as private.

[vetinari]

Or those on network volumes or removable media. When somebody else on other machine removes them, your local database is out of sync pronto.

[earthboundkid]

This also happens with .DS_store files if the other computer on the network isn’t a Mac. It’s irrelevant.

[tekknik]

computers other than a mac don’t need DS_Store anyways, so still relevant.