Re: git on MacOSX and files with decomposed utf-8 file names

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008, Kevin Ballard wrote:

I'm speaking as a user, and as such, I shouldn't even have to know that it's
possible to write the same character in multiple different ways.

The thing is, you seem to argue that what OS X does helps you as the user.

But you are arguing based on incorrect assumptions.

First off, we've had years and years and years of usage of non-corrupting 
filesystems (pretty much every UNIX OS around since day 1, and many other 
OS's too), and it's simply not true that it's a problem. You see the 
filename in the file dialog, and you open it, and you're done. OS X isn't 
any "easier" in this regard.

In fact, this whole thread comes from the fact that the OS X choice that 
you *think* is easier, is in fact not easier at all. It's not easier for 
the user, it's not easier for the application programmer, and the really 
sad part is that it's very much *not* easier for OS X itself either (ie 
they had to literally write extra code with nasty tables to do it, and it 
really does hurt them in performance and complexity).

And _that_ is why the OS X situation is so sad. Apple literally added 
extra code to make things slower and more complex *and* harder to use 
reliably.

Does it show up in normal behaviour? Of course not. You'd probably never 
see it in real life outside of test-suites. People simply don't even tend 
to use filenames outside of US-ASCII, and when they do use them, input 
methods really *do* tend to do the normalization for you.

But when it comes to automation (which is what computers are all about), 
the OS X choice is literally the wrong one. And there's no _upside_. It's 
all downside. Which is why it's so stupid.

I bet it only exists because OS X engineers didn't really even think about 
it, and they just assumed that "normalization is helpful". They took your 
stance - thinking it was worth it, without ever really thinking it 
through.

			Linus