Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 14:58:11 +0100 From: Alex Zbyslaw <xfb52@dial.pipex.com> To: martinko <martinkov@pobox.sk> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: file name case issue on fat32 (Was: Re: Sharing data files on a dual-boot machine ...) Message-ID: <43394FF3.4040800@dial.pipex.com> In-Reply-To: <43394783.3020608@pobox.sk> References: <433852A8.10900@gish.demon.nl> <20050926225220.33c51d39@localhost> <43392786.8060102@pobox.sk> <b7052e1e050927043921e2c975@mail.gmail.com> <43393578.7080109@pobox.sk> <43393B24.30506@dial.pipex.com> <43394783.3020608@pobox.sk>
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martinko wrote:
> Alex Zbyslaw wrote:
>
>> martinko wrote:
>>
>>> Dmitry Mityugov wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 9/27/05, martinko <martinkov@pobox.sk> wrote:
>>>> ...
>>>>
>>>>> hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> when i mount a fat32 partition some files have different case (see
>>>>> below) then in windows. how come ??
>>>>>
>>>>> e.g.:
>>>>>
>>>>> $ ll
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 734 Mar 1 2005 a.txt
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 649 Mar 16 2003 A.txt~
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 1110 Mar 27 2003 b.txt
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 2980 Jun 6 23:46 c.txt
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 2475 Mar 1 2005 C.txt~
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 2563 Jun 10 12:49 d.txt
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 2561 Jun 10 12:42 D.txt~
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 1015 Jun 7 00:25 e.txt
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 681 Mar 16 2003 E.txt~
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 602 Mar 16 2003 f.txt
>>>>> -rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 421 Mar 16 2003 g.txt
>>>>>
>>>>> in windows all the files above have first letter in uppercase,
>>>>> that is
>>>>> "A.txt" for instance.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> sorry if i didn't make myself clear. -- ALL the file names above
>>> should have their first letter, and only the first letter, in upper
>>> case. that's how they were named in windows. but as you can see
>>> above, freebsd does not show them properly as some of them are shown
>>> in lowercase (e.g. "a.txt" instead of "A.txt").
>>>
>>> why??
>>
>>
>>
>> Because FAT32 is a case-insensitive file system. Don't confuse how
>> Windows explorer shows you the file name with how the file name is
>> actually stored on the file system.
>>
>> --Alex
>>
>
> ok. unfortunately i forgot most of my knowledge from the old days of
> ms-dos but what i can say even without it is this -- it's not about
> windows explorer only. i can see the correct file names in all
> applications (under windows of course), i believe. and if windows
> knows whether there should be an "A" or "a" then why freebsd cannot?
>
Windows does not care whether you refer to a file called "abc.txt" as
"Abc.txt" or "ABC.txt" or "abc.TXT", they are all the same. There is no
"correct" file name as far as windows or ms-dos is concerned. Open up a
dos command line window and try:
type a.txt
and
type A.TXT
and they should both work.
File systems on Unix are case-sensitive, notwithstanding how Windows
behaves. Yes, this is a pain.
--Alex
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