On Wed, 2002-05-22 at 16:58, Rodrigo Barbosa wrote: > On Wed, May 22, 2002 at 12:12:46AM +0200, petter wahlman wrote: > > On Tue, 2002-05-21 at 22:19, Rodrigo Barbosa wrote: > > > Attention: RANT LEVEL set to 7. > > > > > > On Tue, May 21, 2002 at 09:11:24PM +0200, petter wahlman wrote: > > > > So, why are 'linux' filesystems case sensitive? > > > > > > I think the question is "Why is Windows case insensitive" ? > > Or OS/2 and Novel witch are some of the other OS's I share code with. > > OS/2, Novel and Windows all shame the same historical codebase, that is, > PC-DOS. No surprise they all share the same behaviour. True, but that does'nt help me. > > > > Last time I checked with my language teacher (no matter what language), > > > "A" and "a" are not the same. So, we can reframe your question as > > > "Why do we have different cases for the same letter of the alphabet ?". > > > In that case, I really can't answer. > > Semantically speaking, I agree that 'A' != 'a'. The number of possible > > filenames are also gratly increased with case sensitivity. > > I would probably religously be against such a change if I did not > > experience the previously mentioned problems. > > But this problems you experience is easily solved. I can even code a > small script for you if you give me the details. Repeating myself for the N-th time. It's not that easy, if that was the case I could have written it with C, shell, gas, perl whatever. I could even make a case insensitive shell for that matter, but make and my CVS-like program would still complain. > > > > As for Linux, that is the way Unix is since the beginning, in the 60's. > > > And Linux is a Unix-like derivative. Other exemples include Solaris, > > > AIX, Irix, MacOSX, FreeBSD, bsd386, NetBSD, SunOS etc. > > I know, and can proably think of other examples, but that does not > > change the fact that the lack of such a feature causes problems. > > I do not think that changing the default behavior is the right think to > > do, though. > > Good. So, what are our solutions ? If it is made a configurable behavious, > all programs would have to deal with that. Nope. It should be a mount time option, just like for e.g JFS. bash case globbing is even configurable. > > > > > Having two files or directories that only differ by case is IMO wrong, > > > > but should at least be controlable with a generic mount option. > > > Just becouse you don't like something does not make it wrong. I, for one, > > > use different cases for different functionalities. Lets say I have a > > > datafile (data.dat) I want to disable, but want to know what this file > > > is. I simply rename it to data.DAT, or Data.dat. The application will not > > > use it anymore, and I still know the correct name. That is one of several > > > possible uses. > > Wrong was probably a too strong word (i wanted to get some feedback on > > my post :), and can absolutely see the value of having the possibility > > you mention. > > Thanks. At least you read about the "rant level" of the mail, before > reading the rest of it :-) Hehe :) > > > > You see, most people want to be able to control what a program (application, > > > OS etc) do, and not just put some crap in and hope the program will work > > > it's way. Old computer proverb: Garbage in, garbage out. > > > If you need to conver filename, you can easily do it with a onliner. Same > > > for file references inside a Makefile or anything else. > > No, it is not that easy. I do not have the permission to change the case > > on the include statements in all the source files I access, due to RO > > and locked files. > > It's not as easy as doing a 'find' ;) > > So, change the name of the files. Also, easy to do with a oneliner :-) > No, see previous posts. > And do understand your problem, but changing the VFS would only cause further > problems (curing a headache by cutting the head off). This problems should > be solved in userspace. It's not possible. People, see the light :) -p. > > []s > > -- > Rodrigo Barbosa - rodrigob at tisbrasil.com.br > TIS - Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil > "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" - http://www.tisbrasil.com.br/ > Brainbench Certified -> Transcript ID #3332104 > > -- > Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. > Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ > FAQ: http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/ > -- Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ FAQ: http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/
