case sensitive filenames

[std-unix at ut-sally.UUCP]

References:

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 86 13:49:52 PST
From: guy at Sun.COM (Guy Harris)

> 4.2BSD refuses to namei a file with 8-bit character(s) because that's a good
> sign that the directory entry has been thumped.  The super-user is allowed
> to namei files with 8-bit characters.

4.2BSD refuses to namei a file with 8-bit character(s) because files like
that are a royal pain to deal with, due to both the Bourne and C shell
stripping all arguments to 7 bits before passing them to programs - not
because they are most likely to appear in smashed directory entries.  The
super-user is NOT allowed to namei files with 8-bit characters; the error
returned in 4.2BSD is EPERM, but that doesn't mean it won't be given to the
super-user.  The error was changed to EINVAL in 4.3BSD.

The point still stands, however, that the kernel shouldn't enforce
restrictions like this.  The System V Release 3 Bourne shell has been fixed
to handle 8-bit arguments, so you can use "rm -i *" or something like that
if you want to remove files with 8-bit characters in their names.  Some
Japanese companies have also fixed the C shell to handle files with names
containing 8-bit characters.


Volume-Number: Volume 8, Number 62