In macOS, a package is a directory that can contain files and / or other directories that is flagged to be presented by the Finder to the user as a single file, preventing accidental tampering of important contents. This was an important step in the transition from classic Mac OS (which relied on files containing data forks, resource forks, or both) to Mac OS X.

Folders with the following extensions are considered by the Finder to be packages:

• .app
• .bundle
• .framework
• .kext
• .plugin

The contents can be viewed by right-clicking a package and then selecting "Show Package Contents".^[1]

References

External links

• Technical Note TN1188: Packages in Mac OS 9 at Apple Developer (1999-10-11)
  • Bundle programming guide: Document Packages (2017-03-27)
• Resource Forks, Bundles, etc. by jccleaver at LWN.net (2019-01-07)

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