longest linux filename
 

Hi,

Just by experimentation I have worked out that a filename in linux cannot have more than 255 chars.

Is this softcoded - and if so;

1) where?

2) would it be wise for me to increase this?

thx!

Why would you need to increase it??? What does an "ls -l" listing look like if all the filenames are even 100 characters? Yuk!!

does it matter?

because I want longer filenames. :)


Specifically, Windows allows 255 character filenames.

I pass the files to Linux.

I then try to run SVN to import the files.

SVN wants to add 9 characters '.svn-base' to the end of the file.

Can't open file 'Home/xapp7/.svn/text-base/THE_VERY_LONG_FILENAME_HERE.xp.svn-base': File name too long

I can't control the length of the supplied files.

If only I could extend linux filenames by 10 chars, i could be confident of covering any file.


However I can see this coming up in other scenarios... so... the question remains -- is it softcoded or are both Operating Systems limited to 255?

many thanks.

Filename length is a feature of the filesystem. And on most *nix filesystem the maximum length allowed is 255 bytes, that is 255 1-byte chars. I'm afraid you have not a chance! ;)

Please don't post the same (or basically the same) post more than once.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=577990

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=577995

It appears to be a function of the filesystem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...systems#Limits
Note that Reiser seems to have a higher limit than most of the others

Based on a quick glance "man tune2fs", it seems not to be a settable option for ext2/ext3.

Hi,

I've read that ext2/ext3 and reisefs are max 255 by default but can be extended to 1012.

How to do this is harder to come by. This I come across regularly:
But I cannot seem to find a document that describes how/where to do this. I assume that this has to be done during compilation.

ok, thanks.

so maybe it's possible - but it's a biggy - So I think I'll steer clear.

As I remember, Windows allows 255 character filenames but it only distinguish the 1st 62 or 63 character.

I believe the "could be extended to 1012" would be based on a modification of the filesystem and filesystem code: i.e., beyond 1012 the data would be too large to fit in the space designated for a single file entry in the filesystem.