Re: file name case-sensitivity issues

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: May 23, 2006, 22:57 UTC
Message-ID: <7v7j4c4af3.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <20060523210615.GB5869@steel.home>

fork0@t-online.de (Alex Riesen) writes:

> Very simple to reproduce on FAT and NTFS, and under Windows, as usual,
> when a problem is especially annoying. I seem to have no chance to
> get my hands on this myself, so I at least let everyone know about the
> problem.

Isn't it like complaining that the following sequence loses your precious file on a case-challenged filesystem?

	$ echo precious contents >foo
        $ rm -f FOO

Is it a problem for the user? Certainly yes. You lost your precious file.

Is it a bug in the operating system and/or the filesystem? Probably not; it is doing what it is asked to do -- its definition of what string matches what file on the filesystem is dubious, but that is how it sees the world and you accept that view while you are on such a system. Is it a bug in "rm"? Probably not; it is doing what it is asked to do within the context that you gave it.

I'd call that a PEBCAK.

If you _know_ you are working on a case challenged filesystem, I think the best thing you can do is not to work on a project that has files in different cases on such a filesystem.