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IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
00004201003.1(2008)/Issue 7Rationalepublic2011-05-01 09:102013-04-16 13:06
ReporterDon CragunAssigned Toajosey  
PrioritynormalSeverityCommentTypeError
Status ClosedResolutionAccepted 
NameDon Cragun
OrganizationSelf
User ReferenceFilename rationale characters vs. bytes
SectionA.3 Filename definition rationale
Page Number3426
Line Number114796-114804
Interp Status---
Final Accepted TextSee desired action.
Summary0000420: rationale for filename talks about characters, but filenames consist of bytes
DescriptionThe two paragraphs of rationale on P3426, L114796-114804:
        At the present time, the primary responsibility for truncating
        filenames containing multi-byte characters must reside with
        the application.  Some industry groups involved in
        internationalization believe that in the future the responsibility
        must reside with the kernel.  For the moment, a clearer
        understanding of the implications of making the kernel
        responsible for truncation of multi-byte filenames is needed.

        Character-level truncation was not adopted because there is no
        support in POSIX.1 that advises how the kernel distinguishes
        between single and multi-byte characters. Until that time, it
        must be incumbent upon application developers to determine
        where multi-byte characters must be truncated.

are misleading. By definition, a filename is a sequence of bytes; not characters.
The rationale should talk about why filenames are sequences of bytes rather than sequences of characters.
Desired ActionReplace the rationale for Filename on P3426, L114796-114804 with:
        Filenames are sequences of bytes, not sequences of characters.  The
        only bytes that this standard says cannot appear in any filename are
        the slash byte and the null byte.  This is a side effect of the fact that
        no conforming implementations of the standard currently provide a
        way to pass information specifying the locale associated with strings
        passed between user level applications and the kernel.  This decision
        could be revisited if implementations develop a way to associate a
        locale with the strings passed between kernel space and user space.

        Implementations may add other restrictions to the byte sequences
        allowed in filenames except that any filename consisting no more
        than {NAME_MAX} bytes from the set of characters in the portable
        filename character set must be allowed.
Tagstc1-2008

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Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun New Issue
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Status New => Under Review
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Assigned To => ajosey
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Name => Don Cragun
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Organization => Self
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun User Reference => Filename rationale characters vs. bytes
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Section => A.3 Filename definition rationale
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Page Number => 3426
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Line Number => 114796-114804
2011-05-01 09:10 Don Cragun Interp Status => ---
2011-06-02 16:22 nick Final Accepted Text => See desired action.
2011-06-02 16:22 nick Status Under Review => Resolved
2011-06-02 16:22 nick Resolution Open => Accepted
2011-06-02 16:22 nick Tag Attached: tc1-2008
2013-04-16 13:06 ajosey Status Resolved => Closed