Folders with .DS_Store

I have a rule that is supposed to remove empty folders when:

Kind is Folder
Number of items is 0

According to the Hazel Release Notes:

Version 2.0 (Aug 2, 2007)

Now ignores all invisible files (including dot files) when processing a folder.
When calculating sizes of files in a folder, will ignore invisible files. So a folder can be considered empty (size = 0) even if it has files like .DS_Store in it.

That said, Hazel is not removing the directory when a .DS_Store file is the only file in the directory. I have confirmed that the ScanInvisibles hidden preference is not set -- I have also tried ScanInvisibles -bool NO. As soon as I manually remove the .DS_Store file, the criteria is satisfied. Any suggestions?

I am running Hazel 2.3.9 (v691) on Lion 10.7.1.

"Number of Items" is something recorded by Spotlight, not Hazel, so I have no control over how that is calculated.

For size calculations, invisible files are included. I did this since in some cases, important data is stored in invisible files so I didn't want the folder to be considered empty in those cases. Also, it makes the calculations consistent with what Finder reports so there's less confusion.

That said, .DS_Store is a particularly annoying case and I don't think people would miss those. I'll consider having the size calculations ignore those files.

I understand what you're saying, but it reads contradictory (based on my understanding) to the Release Notes -- which is why I asked the question.

So a folder can be considered empty (size = 0) even if it has files like .DS_Store in it

I suppose that I could add a rule to the folder to remove dot files/.DS_Store. Then my remove empty folders rule would clean up on the next pass.

Actually, looking at the code, the release notes are correct. Have you tried using size instead of number of items?

Thinking about it some more, I think I'm going to change the size calculations. I think it's more important to be consistent with Finder so I'll probably change it in the current 3.0 beta to not ignore hidden files. That said, I'll look into making an exception for .DS_Store because they seem to universally annoy everyone.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Actually, looking at the code, the release notes are correct. Have you tried using size instead of number of items?

I have with no success. The .DS_Store file size is variable and unpredictable. Remove all other files and the folder is the same size on disk as the .DS_Store file.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Thinking about it some more, I think I'm going to change the size calculations. I think it's more important to be consistent with Finder so I'll probably change it in the current 3.0 beta to not ignore hidden files. That said, I'll look into making an exception for .DS_Store because they seem to universally annoy everyone.

I agree with you 100%.

The reality is that I can accomplish my goal with a series of rules. I was just looking for an easier way to do more with less.