Actually, there are two issues here. It is true that all Unix systems
I know of actually impose a maximum path length. But this limit is
only imposed on the string passed to the kernel in a system call. But
the "true path length" of a file, that is, the "/" separated list of all
directories from the root directory down to the file, is limited only
by the number of inodes in the file system. The system will allow you
to use "." as the first element of a path, and you can follow it with
a string up to the kernel limit.
It is possible that a program could create a very deep directory tree,
with the root of that tree itself sitting a hundred directories deep
from the file system root. The files could all be handled properly by
the kernel if the program referenced files in system calls using a
relative path name. Internally, however, the program may have stored
an absolute path name that could exceed the system limit.
paul
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Paul McNabb Argus Systems Group, Inc.
Vice President and CTO 1809 Woodfield Drive
mcnabb@argus-systems.com Savoy, IL 61874 USA
TEL 217-355-6308
FAX 217-355-1433 "Securing the Future"
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