Bob Friesenhahn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Is there a reason to allow file names longer than 99 characters in a > package? Clearly this is non-portable. Why not enforce a maximum > file name length of 99 characters in Automake?
I experience the breakage when using Doxygen to generate a reference manual from C++ code. Some of the filenames it generates are over 80 chars, due to using namespaces, and long classnames etc. If the path is called libfoobar-baz-12.32.44/doc/libfoobar-baz/html/., that's an extra 46 chars in the path. The 99 char limit has been comfortably exceeded, and I had no control over this! [There are options to produce mangled 8.3 names, but I want them to be human readable.] > One way to enforce this is to use sed to truncate file names longer > than 99 characters before passing them to tar so that tar > complains/fails during 'make dist'. What if the truncated names already exist? You will then silently produce a broken archive. Better to do find . | wc -L to get an accurate figure, and then bail out. I'm using the patch I posted. If and when anyone complains, I'll instruct them to build and install the latest GNU tar (or build it for them). I require the functionality for long pathnames, and I don't want to have to support broken tools. For my needs, 99 chars is not at all sufficient. Regards, Roger -- Roger Leigh Printing on GNU/Linux? http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/ GPG Public Key: 0x25BFB848. Please sign and encrypt your mail.