Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
I am wondering if case-insensitive file systems are really such a
problem. Because they are the norm on Windows, R is set up to cope
with them and I chose to have my Macs set up with the stanadard file
systems so I'm more likely to see problems if they occur.
The only time I have ever seen an issue was the no-segfault.R tests
creating a file PACKAGES and stopping a directory Packages being
created.
As I understand it Rolf was unaware that he had a case-insensitive
file system and so was surprised. That's very understandable, and
I've seen it with some new Mac users here -- but they seem to get used
to it.
The problems I encounter are the other way around: users assuming
everything is case-insensitive and e.g. documenting 'R CMD install'
and 'R CMD CHECK' .I had assumed these were Windows users, but I now
realise that there may be Mac users who habitually ignore case.
Yes, last year when R CMD temporarily required case sensitivity for
INSTALL there were complaints from Mac
users as well as Windows users. The argument then was that it was
documented to be a file in RHOME/bin, so file system rules should apply.
If it becomes purely an internal command, it should be case sensitive,
but if it's a script in the file system, it should respect the host
filesystem rules.
Duncan Murdoch
On Fri, 20 Feb 2009, Rolf Turner wrote:
On 20/02/2009, at 2:51 PM, David Winsemius wrote:
Rolf;
I think you should check whether reformatting is really necessary. My
understanding is that Disk Utility will allow repartitioning and one can
choose a disk format at the time that a new partition is created.
Not clear to me what you're saying here. Are you suggesting that I (could)
partition my
hard drive into a chunk containing the current file system and a new chunk
(with
nothing --- yet --- written on it)? And that I could choose a disk format
for
the new chunk such that the file system would be case-sensitive there?
But then I'd get case sensitivity only when working with files stored in the
new
chunk, is it not so?
Sounds dangerous to me, anyhow!
I don't have much of an understanding of file systems and partitioning, I'm
afraid.
cheers,
Rolf
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