Re: File types on RISC OS

Tim Powys-Lybbe <tim@xxxxxxxxx> writes:


On principle I had always agreed with that as it led to error when the
user had to spell the three-character file-type correctly. But in
recent years I have found myself needing to store several types of the
same graphics image in the one directory. This requires that the
filenames have to be different. So I have adopted the practice of
always using the three character extensions.

IMO, RISC OS should allow several files with the same name as long as
they have different types. If you try to retype a file so it matches
an existing other file, you should get a warning (as if you rename it
to match another). If you specify only the name and there is only one
with that name, you get that. If there are several, you need to
specify the type too. Most application swill only work for files of
one type, so they could automatically add the type to a name specified
by a user. And, of course, drag-and-drop is no problem, as you have
full information about file properties.

In a way, the file type becomes a part of the name, but one with
semantic significance and one that isn't shown except by choice of
icon. This is better than chopping off part of the file name when
showing it, as Windows does. That behaviour has been used for attacks
where an executable file called name.jpg.exe is shown only as
name.jpg, so people think it is safe to open. A RISC OS user would
know that the name doesn't imply the action, so they would look at the
type when opening a file. Obviously, this would require that actions
and icons for file types can't be changed without the user being aware
of it, but that should be easy enough to arrange.

Torben
.

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