from Hacker News

Reverse Engineering Apple's typedstream Format

by css on 2/3/25, 3:36 PM with 25 comments

  • by wpm on 2/3/25, 9:05 PM

    This is perfectly timed, as I wanted to find a way to programmatically modify my Mac's AppleScript display settings/theme. For whatever reason, they're stored as typedstream format, embedded in a plist in base64. Found an old implementation/header from 1999 from Mac OS X Server v1.2, signed by Bertrand Serlet, and was going to dig in when I found the time. Now I can dig into this.
  • by nativeit on 2/3/25, 4:21 PM

    Question from a relatively uninformed sysadmin/freelance I.T. provider—will these new iMessage functions allow for 3rd-party applications (ie—CRMs, client support platforms, etc.) to read and/or work with incoming iMessages from my iCloud account? The only thing I really miss since coming from Android was my ability to consolidate all of my client communications, many of whom send text messages first and foremost (which I prefer).
  • by dbyte on 2/3/25, 5:16 PM

    The grandfather of protobuf. Lost in the tales of time.
  • by swiftcoder on 2/3/25, 4:15 PM

    Nice writeup! I wonder if gnustep's NSUnarchiver could be augmented for full compatibility with Foundation?
  • by lt_snuffles on 2/3/25, 5:57 PM

    I was curious how chat gpt can analyze this giving some general instructions https://chatgpt.com/share/67a102b0-b3e4-8003-974d-2ef73a738a...