Sherlock, named after fictional detective

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

, was a file and web search tool created by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

for the

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

-based "classic" Mac OS, introduced with

Mac OS 8 Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It includes the largest overhaul of the classic Mac OS experience since the release of System 7, approximately six years before. It places a greater emphasis on ...

as an extension of the Mac OS Finder's file searching capabilities. Like its predecessor (System 7.5’s totally revamped 'Find File' app, adapted by Bill Monk from his 'Find Pro' shareware find program), Sherlock searched for local files and file contents, using the same basic indexing code and search logic found in

AppleSearch AppleSearch was a client/server search engine from Apple Computer, first released for the classic Mac OS in 1994. AppleSearch was a client/server application, although the vast majority of the logic was located in the server. The server portion ...

. Sherlock extended the system by enabling the user to search for items through the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

through a set of plugins which employed existing

web search engine A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...

s. These plugins were written as

plain text In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects (floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a limit ...

files, so that it was a simple task for a user to write a Sherlock plugin. Sherlock was replaced by

Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...

and

Dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business). A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the driver ...

Mac OS X 10.4 Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Som ...

Tiger, although Apple continued to include it with the default installation. Since most of the standard plug-ins for Sherlock provided by Apple itself no longer function, it was officially retired and removed in the release of

Mac OS X 10.5 Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) is the sixth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on October 26, 2007 as the successor of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and is available in t ...

Leopard in 2007.

Data

The Sherlock 2 search plugin was an

SGML The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates": * Declarative: Markup should des ...

document, and was typically given the ".src"

file extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (e.g., .txt, .docx, .md). The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically d ...

. The Sherlock plug-in was composed of three parts, identified by their element names: , , and tags. These elements allowed Sherlock to (respectively) identify a search's engine's web page and the parts that are relevant to searching, as well as returning the results of the search. There was also a facility for defining how a Sherlock plug-in could update itself. Sherlock search plugins could also be used (with minor modifications) in

Mozilla Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, wi ...

's browser suites. These plugins were, appropriately enough, known as Mycroft project plugins (named after

Mycroft Holmes Mycroft Holmes is a fictional character appearing in stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1893 to 1908. The elder brother (by seven years) of detective Sherlock Holmes, he is a government official and a founding member of the Diogenes ...

, Sherlock Holmes' older brother). Among some of the changes made in the Sherlock file format were the separation of the automatic update element (which formed part of the element) and the icon (provided in a separate file in Mozilla and part of the

resource fork The resource fork is a fork (file system), fork or section of a computer file, file on Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system, which was also carried over to the modern macOS for compatibility, used to store structured data along with t ...

in Sherlock).

Sherlock 3 channels

The Sherlock 3 search plugin was a web application, which was downloaded on the fly from a server to ensure the most current version. As information on the internet is subject to change so quickly, this was one way for Apple to guarantee the up-to-date version. A channel consisted of a

web directory A web directory or link directory is an online list or catalog of websites. That is, it is a directory on the World Wide Web of (all or part of) the World Wide Web. Historically, directories typically listed entries on people or businesses, and th ...

with an index. This usually pointed to a sub-directory (usually called "Channel") which contained the code

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

, any Script XML, and localized lproj directories (nib file and Localized Text Resources as a plist). The channels included by default were: *

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

*Pictures *Stocks *Movies *

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

*Flights *Dictionary *Translation *

AppleCare AppleCare+ is Apple's brand name for extended warranty and technical support plans for their devices. AppleCare+ extends the devices' one year limited warranty and the 90 days of technical support. It also includes unlimited repairs for accidental ...

Current status

As Sherlock was never released as a

Universal binary The universal binary format is, in Apple parlance, a format for executable files that run natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64 or ARM64-based Macintosh computers. The format originated on NeXTStep as " Multi-Archi ...

, it is not compatible with Mac OS X versions after

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. ...

, and can't be launched on

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Macs without

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...

Sherlocked as a term

Advocates of

Watson Watson may refer to: Companies * Actavis, a pharmaceutical company formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals * A.S. Watson Group, retail division of Hutchison Whampoa * Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM research center * Watson Systems, make ...

made by Karelia Software, LLC claim that Apple copied their product without permission, compensation, or attribution in producing Sherlock 3. Some disagree with this claim, stating that Sherlock 3 was the natural evolution of Sherlock 2, and that Watson was obviously meant to have some relation to Sherlock by its very name. The phenomenon of Apple releasing a feature that supplants or obviates third-party software is so well known that being has become an accepted term used within the Mac and iOS developer community.

Versions

*Sherlock – introduced in

Mac OS 8.5 Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It includes the largest overhaul of the classic Mac OS experience since the release of System 7, approximately six years before. It places a greater emphasis ...

. *Sherlock 2 – shipped with

Mac OS 9 Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system which was succeeded by macOS, Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "T ...

, new interface, more plugins. *Sherlock 3 – shipped with

Mac OS X 10.2 Mac OS X Jaguar (version 10.2) is the third major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X 10.1 and preceded Mac OS X Panther. The operating system was released on August 23, 2002 either for sin ...

, runs only in

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

. *Sherlock was replaced by

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Some of ...

for hard drive searches, and replaced by

for other functionality, but remained as a stand-alone program with its channels. It was completely removed in

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) is the sixth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on October 26, 2007 as the successor of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and is available in two ...

References

External links

Apple: Sherlock 3 Channel Development

- See "What is the relationship between Watson and the new Sherlock 3?".
Karelia: Developing Tools for Watson
- See "How does Watson's plug-in architecture compare to Sherlock 3?".
MyCroft Project
opensearch & sherlock search engine plug-ins. Gnome! * https://wiki.developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/sidebar/Adding_search_engines_from_Web_pages$revision/1525363#Installing_Sherlock_plugins ** https://web.archive.org/web/20090301182153/http://developer.apple.com/macosx/sherlock/ {{Mac OS MacOS-only software made by Apple Inc. Sherlock Holmes