Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mcgill-vision!mouse
From: mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: command line options (UNIX-specific)
Message-ID: <1078@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Date: 26 Apr 88 07:23:54 GMT
References: <1036@mcgill-vision.UUCP> <14020029@hpisod2.HP.COM>
Organization: McGill University, Montreal
Lines: 18

In article <14020029@hpisod2.HP.COM>, decot@hpisod2.HP.COM (Dave Decot) writes:
> Why don't we bite the bullet and change our kernels to refuse to
> create files whose names begin with a hyphen or contain non-printing
> characters (unless special arrangements are made by the user to
> permit it)?

The reason *I* don't is that it's of dubious benefit and very uglyly
breaks the current almost-clean file name semantics.  ("Almost" clean
because of the high-bit botch and the slash and null restrictions.)

I'd also want to see what the "special arrangements" you mention are.

In short, I believe the orthogonality we have is well worth the trouble
it causes.

					der Mouse

			uucp: mouse@mcgill-vision.uucp
			arpa: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu