[GRASS5] Re: mapset invalid after copy

[Glynn Clements]

Paulick Consult wrote:

> thank you very much for your help! The copy showed the following filenames: 
> 
> /PERMANENT/DEFAULT_WIND
> /PERMANENT/myname
> /PERMANENT/PROJ_INFO
> /PERMANENT/PROJ_UNITS
> /PERMANENT/wind 
> 
> After renaming to capital letters it worked as usual. Is there a 
> understandable reason why these two files and only those two changed to 
> minor letters? 

It's the DOS 8.3 filename limit.

The default Linux mount options for VFAT (Win95) filesystems only
create an extended filename where necessary (i.e. longer than 8
characters, mixed case, contains spaces etc), otherwise they only
create a short filename. Short filenames don't preserve case; they are
always stored on disk using upper-case, but Linux treats them as lower
case (lower-case filenames are a lot more common).

You can change the behaviour with the "shortname" mount option:

       shortname=[lower|win95|winnt|mixed]

              Defines  the  behaviour  for  creation  and display of filenames
              which fit into 8.3 characters. If a long name for a file exists,
              it will always be preferred display. There are four modes:

              lower  Force  the short name to lower case upon display; store a
                     long name when the short name is not all upper case.

              win95  Force the short name to upper case upon display; store  a
                     long name when the short name is not all upper case.

              winnt  Display  the  shortname as is; store a long name when the
                     short name is not all lower case or all upper case.

              mixed  Display the short name as is; store a long name when  the
                     short name is not all upper case.

More generally, don't "back up" Unix directories to a VFAT filesystem
by copying; create a tar file instead. Apart from issues of case,
copying to a VFAT filesystem will lose ownership, permissions, and
(some) timestamps, and won't handle links correctly.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>