From: TerryL AT ultimatetechnology DOT com (Lincoln, W. Terry)
Subject: RE: Case sensitivity in filenames
8 Jan 1999 22:32:09 -0800
Message-ID: <9901082140.AA20203.cygnus.gnu-win32@net2.netacc.net>
To: earnie_boyd <earnie_boyd AT yahoo DOT com>,
        "'gnu-win32 mail list'" <gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com>


> ---Corinna Vinschen <corinna DOT vinschen AT cityweb DOT de> wrote:
> 8<
> > Cygwin is a emulation layer, to support porting of UNIX Tools with a   
minimum
> > of change. This implies, that the emulation layer should behave as   
near to
> > UNIX as it's possible. IMHO, there is absolutely no need in cramming   
this
> > layer with a complex interface, only because people are not willing,   
to learn
> > another syntax.
> >
> > If somebody want's tools with the user interface, but not with the   
other
> > features of UNIXish interface, he/she should use _native_ ports. Lot   
of them
> > exist. Why demanding this of cygwin, which is designed for another   
goal?
> >
> 8<
> I agree with Corinna.  The tool works well for that which it was   
intended to do.  If a user wants something different, then the sources   
exist for that purpose.  Let's not waste any more time on this.  There   
are workarounds to the problems of case sensitivity such as setting the   
appropriate switches for bash as has been reported already.  Or using the   
 -iname switch in find instead of -name.  Or doing ls *.[jJ][aA][vV][aA]   
to find all cases of this file name.
> IMO, the fix would be to not allow MyFile.java not match myfile.java   
when being specific.  This would be more UNIX like.
> BTW, thank-you Corinna for the contributions you've made to the CYGWIN   
project.
>
8<
IMNTBHO, there problem really surface when tool suppliers set things up   
so to files must be in the same directory, and differ only in case.   
 Win-NT does not handle that situation at all well.  It insists on   
overwriting say makefile with Makefile as the files are extracted from   
your tar.gz file.
This should at least be worked around but it may require some fancy   
manipulation at the OS interface level to change the duplicate name to   
something unique and use a hidden file extended attribute to get the real   
file name.
Seems like a lot of work.
 --
    __
   |  |    /===============================
 __|  |__   / For GOD so loved the world that He gave
|        |  /  His only son, that whosoever believeth on
|__    __|      /   Him should not perish but have everlasting
   |  |     /    life.  (John 3:16)
   |  |    / http://www.angelfire.com/ny/TerryLincoln
   |  |   /    May His peace be found in you,
   |  |  /     W. Terry Lincoln
 /~~~~~~\ /      (senior engineer - Ultimate Technology Corporation)


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