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Linus Torvalds Expresses His Hatred For Case-Insensitive File-Systems
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this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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If these were truly the same thing, you should have not written them differently.
But you did.
Was this really supposed to be a clever point?
it's not "supposed". It just is.
It just is stupid. It only sounds like a clever retort if you don't think about it.
Remember that 99% of the time that's gonna be because of a typo for 99% users. They won't have
File.txt,FILE.TXTandFiLe.tXt, they'll haveReportMay.docxandREportMay.docxor whatever.And yeah, that includes me. I don't want case-sensitivity for that reason alone. Thanks, but no thanks.
I prefer computers do what I tell them to rather than what it thinks I meant to tell it to. If I screw up, why isn't it on me to fix it? And why aren't you proofing data entry before accepting it?
Do you also turn off autocorrect? As for why I'm not proofreading my entries? I am. But typos happen. Try to put yourself into the shoes of the average office drone or consumer just using a PC as a tool. I'm pretty sure I've harped on this before, but most people aren't experts or enthusiasts, they just want a working computer that's as simple to use as possible. The benefits of a case sensitive-file system are far outweighed by how susceptible it is to user error.
How is it not data, usually key data, no less? It requires a unique path/filename combination, has to be human readable, is entered by a user. Not traditionally what one would think of as data entry, but is data that is entered and referenced. And unless you only use the recent view for finding files, knowing that the name is entered as intended seems rather important.
And perhaps I am also secretly a machine.
So? Numbers need to be human readable and entered by humans, too, and I've seen discussions about the proper pronunciation of 1.32. There are a number of ways that appear equally useful, but there is a convention that has been applied to remove ambiguity. And that convention is ignored in areas where other issues are more important. That convention is no more natural than writing itself, yet most people beyond a basic level of numeracy (and, perhaps, English fluency) know it. Moreover, filenames, just like numbers, need to be computer readable, as well, and conventions have been applied. Some of those conventions were constrained by the capabilities of computers of the time, just like with dates.
And people are very much case-aware. IF THEY WERENT, WHY ARE ALL CAPS COMMENTS INTERPRETED DIFFERENTLY?
Do you actually have a case sensitive filesystem? Because in reality I don't even notice it when doing normal work. It seems like such a weird thing to be crying about.
I've used Linux, yes. And I'm not "crying" I just find it annoying. Good grief.
I did, because they're different ways of expressing the same meaning. They all mean (apologies for borrowing mathematical notation for linguistic applications) |file|. I don't care what the expression of a thing is, I care about meaning. And as a result, when I save a file and then search to recall it, it should not matter what case it's in - only for the meaning to match. The state of my shift or capslock should be totally immaterial.
Whatever you use to search can just be case insensitive, which is how most file browsers work on Linux.
Then why should it allow me to save different expressions of the same meaning ever? If it's going to let me search for it case-insensitive, just head the matter off at the pass and save it that way. Either that, or automatically create link files for every case permutation to the same folder as soon as the file exists.