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File Name Length Limit? 1

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MasterRacker

New member
Oct 13, 1999
3,343
US
Does anyone know what the length limit is on a name? I would imagine that HTML has some max. length on what can be a link and that also browsers have a limit on what they can resolve. If we're lucky maybe these limits are longer than the actual physical file name limits of Unix or NT?

I'm looking to link to stuff like:
"Players Statistics - Semi Mid-Upper Division - Bonus Bobs Bogus Bulbous Boneheaded Beefbarfing Bowling Brotherhood and Association_2000-2001 Season.html"

Just trying to avoid a lot of experimentation (lazy) to see how much room I have to work with.

Jeff
masterracker@hotmail.com

If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information.......
 
Jeff,

Boy did you pick a good one! I was curious so I went and read some RFC's :eek:(

Nothing anywhere about length limits on URL's or URN's or URI's. However your statement:

> If we're lucky maybe these limits are longer than the actual physical
> file name limits of Unix or NT?

Does not compute for me. Even if the browser and HTTP can handle a file name longer that what is limited to on say, NT, How could the file exist on NT with a name longer than the NT limit to begin with? Or am I just having a bad brain day? no flames please ;o)

-pete
 
Pete,

What I was trying to say is that maybe the Unix/NT limits are the only thing we have to worry about.
Jeff
masterracker@hotmail.com

If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information.......
 
can lead to security problem - it's a known vulnerability in netscape enterprise for instance
read in :
"In the Netscape, vqServer and Xitami webservers, restrictions applied to directories with long filenames will be ignored if the 8.3 version of the filename is requested. For example, if directory listing is enabled for c:\webroot\ and disabled for c:\webroot\longsubdir\ , a GET request for h t t p://server/longsubdir/ will fail, as expected. However, a GET request for h t t p://server/longsu~1/ will succeed.
In Serv-U, the 'cwd' and 'site exec' commands are susceptible to a similar vulnerability. If the execute permission is enabled for c:\ftproot\ and disabled for c:\ftproot\longsubdir\, and an executable is placed in C:\ftproot\longsubdir\, the command 'site exec C:\ftproot\longsubdir\example.exe' will fail, but 'site exec C:\ftproot\longsu~1\example.exe will work and the executable will be running.
As this is a problem with the maintenance of two different filesystem conventions in Windows32, the Windows 3.1 and non-Windows versions of these packages are not affected.
Other Windows32-based HTTP and FTP servers may have the same or similar vulnerabilities. "




"
 
> What I was trying to say is that maybe the Unix/NT limits are the only thing we have to worry about.

Oh :-0

Then I believe the answer is 'Yes'.
-pete
 
iza, That's nice....there's always "yetanotherdamnthing" we have to worry about isn't there?

In this instance however, I am in the rare position of not needing to worry about security, only how long a name I can use.
Jeff
masterracker@hotmail.com

If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information.......
 
just because you scared me with the "If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information......." ;-)
happy that you won't have too many testing to do !
 
Okay. The length allotted for a URI is dependent on the server. IIS has a registry entry that you can use to modify this, but I think by default, version 4 is right around 2 megs and version 5 is 128k. I've had problems with O'Reilly's Website Pro recognizing URI's longer that 4k. Apache, by default, is about 8k... I think.

Anyway. You've got *a lot* of space to work with. :)

brendanc@icehouse.net
 
So the actual physical file name is the limit then. Works for me. Like you say - plenty of room.....
Jeff
masterracker@hotmail.com

If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information.......
 
In Apache, the default is 8190 bytes, or just under 8k. However, that can be changed before compiling it.

But the question I have is: why not use directories?!?

eg. "Players Statistics/Semi Mid-Upper Division/Bonus Bobs Bogus Bulbous Boneheaded Beefbarfing Bowling Brotherhood and Association/2000-2001 Season/index.html"

Sure, it would be the same problem if in fact there were a problem, but it seems that your reason was wierd. Seperating file lists into directories is a better data managment method.
Sincerely,

Tom Anderson
CEO, Order amid Chaos, Inc.
 
The database that does the stats generates the files automatically based on the league name. The files are e-mailed to the ISP who can then simply overwrite the existing ones each week to update. We don't want the ISP to have to do any special folder structure that needs to change every time a new league starts.

The file names themselves provide uniqueness. The data is static only needing to show the most current and disappears after the season ends. Simplicity for the operators was the overriding factor in design.
Jeff
masterracker@hotmail.com

If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information.......
 
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