[9fans] Re: blanks in file names

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

On Wed, 10 Jul 2002, Dave wrote:

> If I had to vote a priori, blanks would certainly be a no-go for
> filenames.  However, the pressure cooker has already burst, and our
> chicken is headed straight towards the ceiling.  Getting rid of spaces in
> filenames is not much of an option, if we want to be able to get along
> in the wide world of non-space-restricted systems.

Um, strictly speaking for most OS'es (and logically in general) the
'string' that represents the filename canonicaly -should- be (usually) ""
delimited.

In other words,

ls filename.foo

should really be,

ls "filename.foo"

or perhaps,

ls "file/"Bill/".foo"

The fact that the OS allows one to drop them (assuming you don't use
things like blanks in filenames) is really a courtesy of the shell
implimentation. That's where it should stay. Why the filesystem would
-ever- need the filename for internal operations would, at least to my
mind, be a major error in implimentation. Other than in 'friendly name'
situations (ie UI related) the system should be oblivious of the filename.

If it's a valid character in the character set, it should be allowed in a
string (except for logical issues - eg printing some non-printable) should
print some sort of symbol allowing one to recognize this. This
'conversion' should also stay strictly in the UI related code. To do
otherwise raises a host of issues about side effects and special cases w/
regard to sting handling libraries. To not allow spaces in filenames only
makes the world more complicated. It also destroys a layer of generality,
and that is -almost always- a BAD thing.

With respect to filenames, it's a string of -reasonably- unique (re issues
of location and such) 1's and 0's to the OS. It doesn't really 'mean'
anything to the OS::File System. It's the User::UI that it matters to.

User::UI::OS::File System

Leave the problem where it belongs, in the cli/shell.


 --
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              When I die, I would like to be born again as me.

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     ravage@ssz.com                                         www.ssz.com
     jchoate@open-forge.org                          www.open-forge.org

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