Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!paperboy!meissner From: meissner@osf.org (Michael Meissner) Newsgroups: comp.unix.internals Subject: Re: Help! modifying os to support >14 char filenames (sys V.3) Message-ID: Date: 10 Sep 90 03:14:42 GMT References: <1430@engadm2.csd.mot.com> <3958@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <4040@auspex.auspex.com> Sender: news@OSF.ORG Organization: Open Software Foundation Lines: 26 In-reply-to: guy@auspex.auspex.com's message of 9 Sep 90 22:53:57 GMT In article <4040@auspex.auspex.com> guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) writes: | >In U*X a directory entry is defined in dir.h -- you _may_ | >redefine the maximum length & recompile. | | And then dump and restore all your file systems, since you've then just | changed the on-disk file format. Also, fix up a bunch of programs that | read directories directly to use "readdir()" instead, and make sure no | programs "know" that file names are limited to 14 characters. | | >Why have you got only 14-char filenames? | | Presumably because he's using a system with only the V7-based S5 file | system. The historical reason for the 14 character filename is that under V7 the directory entry was the inode + filename within directory. Since the inode was 2 bytes, making filenames 14 bytes meant that all directory entries where the same size, but not so big it wasted space for the average filesystem. -- Michael Meissner email: meissner@osf.org phone: 617-621-8861 Open Software Foundation, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA, 02142 Do apple growers tell their kids money doesn't grow on bushes?