[tex-live] 8.3 file name restrictions

[Robin Fairbairns]

> On Wednesday 13 September 2006 11:33, Robin Fairbairns wrote:
> >  things branded as "openvms" (hah!) may still
> > have the capability, but using it would be as daft as using dos fat on
> > win xp.
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> > TeX Live mailing list
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> 
> Last time I looked there was not a reliable way in Linux to write
> to a NFS partition.

i presume you mean ntfs?

> Hence those of us who run both OS' on one
> computer tend to format the Windows partition using the older FAT
> form.

which will be fat-32, not dos fat.  fat-32 doesn't enforce dos fat's
silly file name restrictions.

> I know that there are extensions that purport to allow one
> to write on a NSF partition from Linux,

umm...

> but I don't know how
> reliable they are. Hence self-mounting Linux systems like Knoppix
> and Slax mount such partitions read-only by default. 

ah, maybe you're talking about ntfs again?

> Now how does this affect TeX? Well a good way to introduce the
> newcomers to Open Source Software such as TeX is to provide them a
> complete system on a cdr. That eliminates temporarily at least
> the barrier of doing a TeX install. After they get over the
> initial fear factor then they can proceed to do a normal install.
> But TeX without the ability to save files is pretty useless. 

so?  you've admitted that fat-32 on linux is usable (it has its
limitations, and it's said not to be as efficient under windows as is
ntfs, but it'll do for a start-up experiment.

> The self-loading demo disk that can be used for real work is a
> marketing tool we must be prepared to use. None of us are
> immortal.

ho hum.

i think that's understood, isn't it.

r