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From: jewett@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com (Bob Jewett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: Filenames in HP-UX (was Re: Switching from Sun to HP)
Message-ID: <63300027@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com>
Date: 29 Apr 91 03:04:18 GMT
References: <JIM.91Apr25142039@baird.cs.strath.ac.uk>
Organization: HP Labs, High Speed Electronics Dept., Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 16

>   (I haven't heard of any good reasons not to convert).

> In that case, why not ship HP-UX with long filenames enabled by
> default?

Unfortunately, some applications were written assuming that HP-UX would
never support long filename systems.  Such programming was as
pigheadedly myopic as the orignal divergence of maximum filename length
between BSD and AT+T.  Other applications will not work on short
filename systems -- I'd say those are only slightly less broken.

Should a default have been changed when it was known to break existing
applications?

Bob
[Personal opinion, not an official, etc.]