Seeing as I started this thread, may as well wade in with my strictly non-technical end user perspective ...
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2003 at 01:48:42PM -0500, Les Denham wrote: >> As far as I know, Windows is the only significant operating system which >> allows spaces in file and directory names. > Formally, spaces are allowed on *nix as well. It just like jumping out of > a second floor window: You are allow to do that and sometimes it won't > even hurt. > Andre' I have Lyx running on both windows and linux; a Win2000 machine at work, and a Debian machine at home. I work almost entirely in a GUI. I can create directory names with spaces on Debian just as easily as on Win2K, and Lyx (or rather LaTeX) will just as happily choke on linux as it will on windows. So, this isn't really a Win/Linux issue, as using spaces in file names is equally possible on both, if not adviseable (like the 2nd floor window analogy). The difference is in the conventions used; Windows expects spaces in names, (some) *nix programs don't. > There's an obvious answer: file and directory names should NEVER contain > spaces. If you somehow encounter one that does, it is most likely a bug > of some sort, and not a valid file. Come on. This isn't going to be caused by a bug or an invalid file, it's going to be caused because (as the error message nicely says), there is a space in the path. Does that make it an invalid file? In the sense that it does not conform to the *nix "no spaces" rule (guideline?), yes. Invalid in the sense that it is a "garbage" file that can't be accessed? No. Many *nix programs (particularly GUI programs) are as comfortable with spaces in file names as a Windows or Mac would be, and would be able to access such files without a problem. Or perhaps you meant that the fact that a computer has directories with spaces in their names indicates there may be a bug in the brain of the individual who created it? That I will acknowledge with grace. ;) B.
