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From: gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Long filenames in DOS/Windows and Unix/Linux (Was: Piping to stdin)
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2024 05:57:12 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: The official candy of the new Millennium
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In article <ubg8a8$2t20l$1@dont-email.me>,  <Muttley@dastardlyhq.com> wrote:
>On Tue, 15 Aug 2023 16:12:19 -0000 (UTC)
>kalevi@kolttonen.fi (Kalevi Kolttonen) wrote:
>>Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
>>> But do they know that???
>>
>>"They" probably don't know it. But let's face it,
>>nobody really wants to create a file having '-'
>>filename on purpose. The filename is not descriptive
>>at all, it would be just an insane choice for anything
>>useful.
>
>I used to think the same thing about spaces in filenames. Then along came
>Windows.
>

(I happened to be re-reading this 1 year old thread, so thought I'd add a
post to it)

Two comments about spaces in filenames (and Windows vs. Unix):

    1) Windows is actually quite a bit more restrictive about characters in
	filenames than Unix.  Which is a good thing.  I've always thought
	the "anything other than NUL and /" in Unix was a bad thing and
	encouraged all manner of bad/malicious outcomes.  Yet, there are
	people (and I use the term loosely) who think otherwise.

    2) Spaces in filenames are pretty much a necessity from the end-user
	POV (but see below).  Yes, it makes things hard for us on the admin
	side of the game.  I have always thought that the right answer is
	to have both - a short name that is usable for the admin side of
	the game and a long label that the user can work with.  There are
	two solutions of this nature that I like:
	    a) The "Extend a name" idea.  Where you have short names at the
		filesystem level, but then have a database linked to that
		that allows the user to think that long, descriptive
		filenames are supported.

		A long long time ago, there was a DOS product called
		"Extend a name" that did this.  Also, 4DOS (and later
		versions) does this.
	    b) The way VFAT does it (and NTFS emulates) - where, for any
		file with a long name, there is an 8.3 filename (usually
		with weird characters in the filename) as well, and either
		filename is usable by programs.  This is one place where I
		think Windows really gets it right (and Unix could learn
		from it).

-- 
He continues to assert that 2 plus 2 equals 4, despite being repeatedly
told otherwise.