Subject: [netatalk-admins] file name extensions feature request
From: Jan Dockx (Jan.Dockx@cs.kuleuven.ac.be)
Date: Wed Oct 14 1998 - 05:49:59 EDT
A "feature request":
Totally ignoring the discussion whether something like netatalk should be
"transparent" or "leave the file system alone" ....
File name extensions annoy me. I don't want, nor need them, luckily, for
90% of the file types on my Mac. Because we use netatalk together with NFS
on linux and Samba to share files in peaceful coexistence between Mac's,
Windows NT and Unix users, when I put files on the server, I do have to add
file name extensions. This is not only annoying from a "visual" point of
view (:-)), but also takes a lot of time. It surely calls for automation.
Now netatalk already does this the other way around: Type/Creator codes are
added based on file name extensions.
The features I request are:
1) type/creator 2 file name extension
Use the file name extension/type/creator list provided in different
".AppleVolumes" files also to automatically add file name extensions when
Mac files without the correct extension are copied up to the server.
This probably calls for a more extensive list: e.g., different MS Word file
types all have "doc" as a filename extension. This should be no problem:
keep the list format as it is, allow multiple entries for a file name
extension, and use the first encountered entry for the existing feature of
file name extension to type/creator mapping (the way different
".AppleVolumes" cascade probably already implements this.)
2) file name extension hiding
When talking to a client about a file (listing directories, opening a file,
Š), don't include the file name extensions in the name (but do include the
type/creator codes, of course). Mac users are spared of the annoying visual
Win/Unix reminder, Win/Unix users have them. A very interesting side effect
is that we would have "longer filenames". As most file name extensions take
4 positions (".doc") -- some take even more (".jpeg") -- we would again
have 32 positions for file names, instead of the 28 or less we have now in
practice.
This will take a bit more work, because even Mac users don't want this
feature always: we do not want the file extension to go away, e.g., for
HTML files (".html"), Java files (".java", ".jar", ".class", ...), etc...
This means we need an extra column in the ".AppleVolumes" files list that
states whether or not file name extension hiding is enabled for the
extension in question or not. I suggest "hide" and "nohide", with "hide" as
the default. "nohide" seems only necessary for software developers and web
masters.
I should implement this all myself of course, but, alas, ... Maybe if
netatalk was written in Java or C++, ... ;-).
Jan Dockx - assistent (Jan.Dockx@cs.kuleuven.ac.be)
K.U.Leuven, Department of Computer Science
Celestijnenlaan 200 A 03.28; 3001 Heverlee; Belgium
tel.: ++ 32/16/32 76 56 fax.: ++ 32/16/32 79 96
<http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~jand/>
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