Re: OT dot files (was: [MacPerl] CPAN for MacPerl, anyone?)

["Eric R. Dobbs" <dobbs@epost.com>]

>I've been told that names starting with . on Mac OS are bad, but I forget
>why.  I can say that I don't recall ever running into any problems with .
>files.

The only problem I've ever had with files begining with . was
a "feature" of Norton Disk Doctor -- it would rename any files
beginning with . replacing the . with a - unless you specifically
told it not to.  Pathological behavior if you ask me.

I suspect Disk Doctor's behavior was related to the "ancient lore"
Paul referred to about .files.

<MYTHOLOGY>
I have a vague memory of some magic file that could cripple a Mac.
The stink of it was that the SCSI controller or some such was looking
for that file by name.  If you created a file with that name it would
confuse the controller and hang your Mac durring the boot process.
</MYTHOLOGY>

-Eric



***** Want to unsubscribe from this list?
***** Send mail with body "unsubscribe" to mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch