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From: The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Case Insensitive File Systems -- Torvalds Hates Them
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:22:57 +0100
Organization: A little, after lunch
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On 29/04/2025 15:18, Borax Man wrote:
> ["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.misc.]
> On 2025-04-28, Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> wrote:
>> On Mon, 28 Apr 2025 11:12:42 -0700, John Ames wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Just so, it seems to me. Of course it's many years too late for *nix to
>>> course-correct on this, but it was a stupid design decision in 1970 and
>>> it remains stupid now. Well, such is the nature of things in this vale
>>> of sin and tears...
>>>
>>
>> Case insensitivity was only idiotic at the beginning, but now, in the
>> age of Unicode, it is supremely idiotic.
>>
>> Consider the German "sharp s," which I cannot enter as UTF-8 here.
>>
>> But the lower case sharp s maps into TWO DIFFERENT upper case chars:
>> <can't enter> and "SS," e.g. STRASSE or <can't enter>.
>>
>> There are special rules on case folding for thousands of Unicode chars
>> and the "sharp s" example is one of the simplest.
>>
>> What about the files:
>>
>> cat_scan_links.html
>>
>> CAT_scan_links.html
>>
>> To paraphrase Kipling:
>>
>> Unix is Unix and Microslop is Microslop and never the twain should
>> meet.
> 
> Consider when you move a file from a POSIX filesystem, to one which is
> case insensitive, and you move it back.  I've had digger.zip and
> DIGGER.ZIP because one verison once resided on an MSDOS partition.
> 
> Issues arise when you interact with other systems which don't preserve
> case.  Or archivers that may not.
> 
> As for your file example though, you do demonstrate why one may choose
> upper vs lower case, Windows does allow that.  But should they be
> *seperate* files?  You are asking for trouble putting both files like
> that in one directory.  I'd never do it.  The system lets you do it, but
> you shouldn't.
> 
Wait till you have a MacIntosh which traditionally was case insensitive 
but can allow case sensitivity.

Except the program you want to run  is random and arbitrary in its use 
of filenames. It will call e.g file. dot FILE.dot File.dot and FiLe.DOT 
all from within the same code.
There is nothing wrong with case sensitivity provided its a standard 
that is adhered to

The moaners are usually people who have grown up lazy on DOS/OS-9 O/X 
and expect the OS to cover up for  sloppy bad habits


> However, I agree with your comment about unicode.  Treating upper and
> lower case letters as the same, leads to complicated rules, which may
> vary from system to system, and cause chaos.  Case sensitivity, perhaps
> is the lesser of two evils here.

-- 
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to 
rule.
– H. L. Mencken, American journalist, 1880-1956