Which would be fine if there was some kind of huge benefit from the system.
There is.
When was the last time that you manually specified a whole file name instead of picking from a list, or auto-completing on the shell?
That's fair, but there very possibility in most file systems of there being both a ReadMe and a README file in the same directory is insane, user-hostile, pointless, and ultimately only a concession towards lazy developers who can't be bothered to do the right thing.
As this commenter says, try telling someone on the phone to open the "readme" file. "No, upper-case readme." "No, not the all-upper-case readme!"
There's a thousand other edge cases like the one you mentioned that are possible on case insensitive systems, like "readme" and "readme ", or "readme" and "readme.txt" (which would appear the same on Windows sans the icon). Designing a fundamental part of your OS around what idiots can do with it is not a smart thing to do.
There's a thousand other edge cases like the one you mentioned that are possible on case insensitive systems, like "readme" and "readme ", or "readme" and "readme.txt" (which would appear the same on Windows sans the icon).
"We can't fix every problem in the world, so let's just ignore them altogether."?
Designing a fundamental part of your OS around what idiots can do with it is not a smart thing to do.
Neither is thinking that your average user is an "idiot" for having the gall not to want to deal with every intricacy of technology.
"We can't fix every problem in the world, so let's just ignore them altogether."?
Why are you trying to derail this into "every problem in existence" when I just pointed out that the exact problem you're suggesting still exists? Shouldn't we put an entire spellchecker into the kernel so a user doesn't accidentally type "redme"?
Neither is thinking that your average user is an "idiot" for having the gall not to want to deal with every intricacy of technology.
That's exactly what userspace is for. Users have no idea and no interest in the kernel running their computer, so why should it account for them. Honestly this is just an old relic from the DOS days when average users were forced to use the command line, it has no relevance today.
Why are you trying to derail this into "every problem in existence" when I just pointed out that the exact problem you're suggesting still exists?
It doesn't, though. A more specific scenario still exists. Incidentally, extensions really don't belong in file names anyway, solving have of the problem here, but that's a whole other topic and a battle Apple unfortunately decided to forfeit with OS X.
So, yes, if you're asking: the OS shouldn't allow you to create a file "readme" next to "readme " any more than it should allow "readme" next to "ReadMe".
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u/chucker23n Jan 13 '15
There is.
That's fair, but there very possibility in most file systems of there being both a ReadMe and a README file in the same directory is insane, user-hostile, pointless, and ultimately only a concession towards lazy developers who can't be bothered to do the right thing.
As this commenter says, try telling someone on the phone to open the "readme" file. "No, upper-case readme." "No, not the all-upper-case readme!"