Do I want to be forced into lowercasing all filenames and directories? No, not at all, but it’s the easiest way to deal with this ridiculous OS “feature” (read: handicap)

When I test in Windoze and OSX, no problem, can have /ExampleDir and code files as EasyToReadClassName.ext

Squinting to read through a directory with all lcased class files is a pain, but c’est la vie, ‘nix is free after all.

Anders idea of mounting the file system case sensitive is a good one.

Who, seriously, are the individuals who defend this “preference”? It seems like quite a silly thing to stand behind. It must cause countless headaches when your average user has no idea why it is happening. That is the paramount issue with programmers who don’t code for people but rather code for their own principles.

I think it is that type of self-absorbed thinking that kept those operating systems from becoming more widely accepted. (Think Ubuntu or Vector – I realize linux is used EVERYWHERE in the business sector prob just because it’s free) It also causes people to overlook any benefits or qualities of the system simply because the developers can’t get their heads out of their asses long enough to ask their mother to use it for a day and see why she can’t stand it.

Phew.

-Well, maybe human speech should be case-sensitive too…

Just recently I created a virtual machine in VMWare/Linux, called (e.g.) VirtualMachine. I had already created a folder /home/virtualmachine for it. The result was that the VM was created in the virtualmachine folder, BUT the virtual disk was automatically created in a duplicate folder called VirtualMachine. This was an totally unexpected result, and an extremely undesirable situation, since a backup of the /home/virtualmachine folder would be minus the virtual disk.

Thus, case-sensitivity is more than just a nuisance, it can defeat your backup strategy and lead to a mission-critical loss of data. It doesn’t require human error to fall foul of this either, as seen here it can result from unexpected interactions between naming of objects.

Linux has a lot to commend it as an OS, except for this one piece of 1950’s awfulness. If they’d get rid of the case-sensitive filesystem it would be a truly great OS.

If you answered “yes” to at least half of the above questions, you deserve a case-sensitive O/S and file-system.

I hope those weren’t too offensive to anyone, but it pretty much sums up all my experiences discussing this issue with the “sensitive” side. :p

A final thought… I am designing my own programming language. It will be going a step farther… Not only will it be case-insensitive, it will also be underscore-blind. If you think about it, underscores in identifiers are meant for readability (as is CamelCase). They are another instance of varying how you write a name, without making any real change in its meaning. Yes, case-following is also the way to go. Real-time if the editor’s hooked up with the compiler, or as a step in building. And actually… If a language is case-following and the source has been all “synchronized”, then your compile can case_sensitive names. So the “decoration ignorance” is not actually in the compiler, it’s a function of the IDE or utility run just before building.

So for example… if someone on your team mentions the function “get time”, you could type it in as gettime, GetTime, get_time, GET_TIME, etc. There’s no need to distinguish between all of those, because they all have the same meaning and are pronounced the same.

Thanks for taking my survey :0)

A) URL’s should not be case sensitive because the DNS name is not. http://www.LINUX.org and http://www.linUX.orG are the same thing. So why should what comes after these follow a different set of rules. This is inconsistent. Apache shouldn’t need a mod it should just be case insensitive. I wonder if any of the various “web” RFC say anything about it.

B) Devlopment languages and the File system are two different things. If you refer to a .SO or .DLL or whatever file in your code you should use case sensitivity for good measure. If you have a variable name case sensitivity is usually a good thing because it makes the code “cleaner”. Of course this is preference. I’ve used langauges that do it both ways…honestly it never seems to be that big of a deal. Using “IF” instead of “if” or “iF” is just silly. That is a keyword in the programming langauge…I’m not asking if “IF” exists…I know it does. When I open a file with “Test.txt” or “test.txt” I’m asking for the “test.txt” file…not some sort of programming language construct.

C) To this day I’ve never had anyone be able to give me a good example of why a directory would have two files of the same “name”, but with different case sensitivities. ie. a folder/directory with c:\test.txt and also c:\Test.txt. This seems like it would only cause confusion.

D) Interopability – Like it or not Windows is case insensitive. *nux is typically not. Porting applications then becomes and issue. In order for both systems to be able to talk effectively one has to change. Changing windows breaks current functionality. Changing it in Linux does not because everything was already using the correct sensitivity. The only thing that would break is if a folder had two files of the same name like in point C). If we don’t actually have a reasonable use case for c), then Linux/Unix should change. Give the option today and then make it the default later. I would love some explanation as to why ripping out case sensitivity will break “half the system” in *nix.

E) *nix is being lazy not windows – I’ve heard that the *nix crowd actually thinks Windows is doing less by ignoring case. This usually comes from non developer types of admins. This is just not the case and should realize that *nix is actually the one with less functionality.

F) How much time has been wasted on this issue. *nix crowd seems have problems admitting when their system is less optimal then others muddling the water with programming and what not. Is it an inferiority complex or something? Is your hatred of all things MS so great? Swallow the pride pill and get over it. I think it is the same crowd that thinks their grandma should learn how to use VI.

See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_speling.html

this one is easier to overlook

BOTH will be identified as a JPEG file, but they will be different files

Their IT dept is satisfied by saying the server canʻt do it. The end.

So, is there some prefernce or script that will allow the apache server to ignore case at directory levels?