Re: [boost] [1.36.0] Final requirements for directory and file names

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-07-03 18:06:48

Vladimir Prus wrote:
> Beman Dawes wrote:
> 
>> Vladimir Prus wrote:
>>> Beman Dawes wrote:
>>>
>>>> The final requirements for directory and file names are now posted at
>>>> http://beta.boost.org/development/requirements.html#Directory_structure
>>> Hmm, lowercase filenames? I hope you are not suggesting to go and rename every
>>> "Jamfile" to "jamfile"?
>> No, we've always made an exception for that.
>>
>>> Which filesystems, exactly, require single-case filenames,
>>> how many bug reports from users of those filesystems we've got, and what market
>>> share do those filesystem have today?
>> The problems I've seen aren't with file systems, but with programs that
>> partially enforce ISO-9660:1999.
> 
> The footnote sounds like filesystems are the issue:
> 
>         Some legacy file systems require single-case names. Single-case 
>         names eliminate casing mistakes when moving from case-insensitive
>         to case-sensitive file systems.
> 
>> The other issue is consistency; what does the convention become?
> 
> Well, there are very few files that are traditionally spelled in anything
> by lowercase. I think saying that header files must be in lowercase, and
> that source files should be in lowercase, is enough.

Or perhaps "By convention, file and directory names are all lower case 
unless there is a compelling reason to use a different convention for a 
specific name."

We don't have any mechanical way of enforcing that, but at least it 
gives clear guidance. We can check, however, that a directory doesn't 
contain two names that differ only in case.

What do others think of this approach?

--Beman