The full text of this report may be downloaded by clicking on its title: web-filenames.pdf. To open it, you will need Adobe's free Acrobat Reader software.
Some of the software on which portions of our Web services depend was upgraded in late August and there were consequences for the manner in which some Web files are named. Specifically, these files must use all lower case in their names. This was an unanticipated consequence of needed upgrades and we regret the suddenly-imposed inconvenience to Web site maintainers. C.I.T. staff wrote a program to correct filenames in existing sites and will seek more convenient site management strategies in the future. In the meantime, we ask for your cooperation in using lower case for personally maintained Web site filenames.
The Web filename issue is a consequence of building our Web site for maximum convenience for users. To avoid the cumbersome former practice of FTPing files to the Web server, C.I.T. staff utilized open source software as a connector between the "public.www" space within our accounts on the Novell file servers and the Linux server that interfaces with the Internet. This enables us simply to drop Web-ready files into the designated space within our personal accounts, rather than sending them from server to server. This is an unusual arrangement among college Web servers that was developed to avoid a major inconvenience to users. Our recent problem was caused when Novell upgraded its file architecture, an upgrade we needed to institute in order to keep up with standards and easily expand space available to users in the future. While the Novell software itself continues to accept mixed-case filenames, the interaction between it and the open source connector software (surprisingly) prevents it.
Note that the filename issue is relevant only for Web files in personal accounts, not departments, groups or the centrally-managed Macalester Web site. These reside on a different server. When the problem occurred, C.I.T. staff changed affected filenames to lower case and that seems to have been effective. It is not a safe practice to change filenames en masse, however, and so we ask your cooperation in naming files for your Web account using lower case characters. Web sites are in a state of constant change. We will seek to alleviate the problem in the future and to give warning whenever possible of changes that affect you.
Computing & Information Technology
Contact the author
Last modified 09/08/2004.