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From: johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Long File Names under MS-DOS?
Message-ID: <211@ima.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Sep-86 10:12:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: ima.211
Posted: Wed Sep 17 10:12:33 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Sep-86 22:04:32 EDT
References: <44600005@datacube>
Reply-To: johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine)
Organization: Javelin Software Corporation
Lines: 16
Summary: no such luck

In article <44600005@datacube> berger@datacube.UUCP writes:
>Is there a way to tell MS-DOS to allow file names that are greater
>than 8 characters long?

No.  (That was easy, wasn't it?)  The 8+3 name convention is buried deep
within the operating system, and the disk formats are designed around it.
Many system calls also use argument blocks exactly long enough for 8+3 names.

Some versions of Novell networks allow longer Unix-style names on files
stored on the net, but they do that by wrapping their own code around DOS
and reimplementing all of the file I/O calls on their own file system.
-- 
John R. Levine, Javelin Software Corp., Cambridge MA +1 617 494 1400
{ ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.EDU
The opinions expressed herein are solely those of a 12-year-old hacker
who has broken into my account and not those of any person or organization.