Re: Case Insensitive File Systems -- Torvalds Hates Them

On 07/05/2025 00:54, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:

Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:

It could have been the same with ext* forbidding newlines (also tmpfs
etc.).  Then you'd only have to worry about handling newlines in the
rare case of reading from some non-Linux filesystems like UFS.

>
Could ext* have forbade newlines?  Yes.  But that would have gone
against years of Unix tradition at the time had it done so.  Since
Linux began as a "clone of Unix" it was only natural for it to inherit
Unix traditions as to filenames (any byte value other than ASCII NULL
and ASCII forward slash being allowed).

 Well the original quote from Torvalds was about case insensitive
filesystems, which also already have a tradition, but he doesn't
like them, with good reasons. I feel there are valid reasons to
dislike newlines in filenames too. Maybe that would have been too
radical for a UNIX-based OS filesystem, but in practice I can't see
how it would have caused much trouble, and it would have avoided
needing lots of special handling for newlines in software.
 Really it's too late for either argument to win now though.
 

Indeed. In the end its convention and one gets used to it and the worst thing you can do is change it (think systemd)
The essence of conservatism is that any change ought to bring benefits that outweigh the issues of learning the new.
As far as filenames go, no one is *forcing* you to use case sensitivity spaces or dashes, only Left wing people tend to do that, because they think they know better.
--
You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.
Al Capone