Forum:Mac Osx Confusing Vcf With Vcard
1
7
Entering edit mode
11.7 years ago
jjc ▴ 80

We have had some problems using Variant Call Format files on a Mac.

A symptom of our troubles is entries in

/var/log/system.log

like:

Mar 25 11:39:25 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local com.apple.quicklook.satellite[10039]: vCard Syntax Error, character: 1401 : I
Mar 25 11:39:25 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local com.apple.quicklook.satellite[10039]: Malformed BEGIN
Mar 25 11:39:25 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local com.apple.quicklook.satellite[10039]: ##fileformat=VCFv4.1

or:

Mar 25 14:06:05 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local mdworker[585]: ##filef
Mar 25 14:06:05 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local mdworker[585]: vCard Syntax Error, character: 7 : f
Mar 25 14:06:05 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local mdworker[585]: Malformed BEGIN
Mar 25 14:06:05 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local mdworker[585]: ##fileformat=V
Mar 25 14:06:05 Jeremys-MacBook-Pro.local mdworker[585]: vCard Syntax Error, character: 14 : V

This could be problematic since at least some of this processes seem to read the entirety of VCF files, which is not such a great idea.

The fix we found is as follows:

As root:

  1. cd /System/Library/QuickLook/ ; mv Contact.qlgenerator Contact.qlgenerator.BAD
  2. cd /System/Library/Spotlight/ ; mv vCard.mdimporter vCard.mdimporter.BAD

Two further steps that we did, and which appear to be unnecessary are:

  • Go to System Preferences/Spotlight and uncheck Contacts<
  • In Finder, select Get Info on any .vcf file, and modify the Open with: entry, e.g. to TextEdit, and then apply to all with Change All..
vcf • 8.4k views
ADD COMMENT
1
Entering edit mode

I would suggest to keep the type as Tip rather than Question

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

My fault... I was trying to organize and saw it initially as a question why the bug is happening, but I totally can see it as a tip too...

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

I filed a bug with Apple reporting this 6 months ago but they have not responded.

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

Great! Thanks for this, My Mac completely runs out of disk space (and thus slows to a halt) because of this problem.

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

Thank you very much for this. Had this exact problem since this morning and really didn't expect to find an answer online so easily. Great tip!

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

Sincere thanks to you for finding a solution to this rare but annoying problem! My machine suddenly began eating up disk space as it was repeatedly trying to read in a vcf mutation file as an address book entry. This solved the issue.

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode
5.6 years ago
alanh ▴ 170

It appears that over the intervening 6 years, OSX/macOS has fixed this bug. However, is there any way to make current macOS (Mojave/10.14 at this time) QuickLook display the contents of a VCF (variant call file)?

ADD COMMENT
0
Entering edit mode

If you were to change the default program to a text editor such as TextWrangler/BBEdit/TextEdit, pressing Space should show the content for moderately small files.

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

Just drag it to any text editor like VScode or Sublime text.

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

way to make current macOS (...) QuickLook display the contents

I don't think your comment addresses this part

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

Without an external plugin or extension that checks for the file header, QuickLook will not able to differentiate between vCards variant calling format or considering .vcf as vcard can be turned off to make both files look like text files.

ADD REPLY
0
Entering edit mode

Dragging it to a text editor won't help with QuickLook either. The default application will need to be changed, and dragging does not achieve that.

ADD REPLY

Login before adding your answer.

Traffic: 1865 users visited in the last hour
Help About
FAQ
Access RSS
API
Stats

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

Powered by the version 2.3.6