Re: [boost] 31 character limit for filenames

From: Steve Ramsey (steve_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-08-16 17:50:30

On Mon, 16 Aug, 2004, 9:03 am, Doug Gregor wrote:
> Okay, it's time to ask again: do we still need to enforce the
> 31-character limit on filenames? AFAIK, we have this for MacOS 9, only.
> Is that platform still significant for Boost users?

I believe that the native file name size for ISO 9660 Level 2 is also 
31 (32) characters, which affects a whole lot of CDs. What library does 
this relate to? There might be an easy way to provide an extension, 
depending on intended use.

Speaking of Macs and filenames, has anyone created a successful 
implementation of boost::filesystem for use with the Metrowerks MSL? 
I've been trying to shoehorn one into the filesystem interfaces for a 
week, now, and I'm alternately cursing Metrowerks and Apple. This might 
be the final indignity that finally drives me away from CFM and the MSL 
and into the prickly, awkward arms of Mach-O and the BSD stdlib. Two 
highlights of my wobbly path: 1) MSL only supports HFS paths, even for 
POSIX-alike functions; 2) FSRefs can only refer to pre-existing file 
system objects - this merited a single sentence in a single tech note 
far away from the File Manager documentation - which makes them bloody 
useless for general path conversions.

Right now, I'm thinking my best bet is to go with a tainted 
implementation that leverages off of Apple's old MoreFiles sample code. 
This wouldn't necessarily be compatible with the BSL, however, which 
makes contributing something useful to the library dicey.

All this for cross-platform fstreams...

                                                                        Steve