Spaces in filenames (was: shell script question)

[bscott at ntisys.com]

[ Some re-ordering of quoted material was performed for editorial reasons. ]

On Mon, 20 Jan 2003, at 3:58pm, gnhlug at sophic.org wrote:
> I have recently given examples where spaces in filenames do cause real
> problems which are hard or impossible to work around in shell scripts.

  I must have missed that.  Message IDs?

> You can't expect a token to perform two distinct functions ... and not
> have problems arise ...

  Well, yes, to some extent, you are correct.  However, outside of the
shell, most software [1] doesn't care about spaces in filenames.  Most
things put filenames in some sort of container-variable structure that
already guards against spaces.  As for the shell itself, as already noted,
it provides mechanisms for dealing with meta-characters in arguments.

> And it doesn't matter if the cause of the "real" problem is that the
> software is badly designed, if you have no choice but to use it.

  "No choice"?  Weren't you the one who recently went off on an idealistic
tangent about *everything* being voluntary?  :-)

  That being said, choosing to not put spaces in filenames to work around
broken software does not thus make spaces bad.  As you've already stated, it
is the software that is broken.  Sometimes, we have to live with broken
things.  That doesn't mean we should consider broken things good.  Doing so
is a sure way to kill progress.

  As I said, people who lose sight of the fact that computers are supposed
to be a tool are doomed to failure.  There are currently over six billion
people on this Earth.  If even one-tenth of those people become computer
users, you are talking 600 million people.  How many do you think will care
that spaces screw up some poorly written software?  How many do think will
care that many systems were created to use 7-bit ASCII in a single alphabet?  
How many do you think will care that many systems were originated in English
countries?

  In the long term, we can either get with the program, or get out of the
way, because fighting the tide will be futile.


Footnotes
---------
[1] Yes, this is a generalization.  Deal with it.  :)

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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