on Wed Oct 26 2011, "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach+usenet-AT-gmail.com> wrote:
Those long paths can't be handled by Windows Explorer or most other software. Therefore, adding an ability to use them inadvertently, is at best strongly misguided. It would encourage novice developers to create files that ordinary users can't delete, move or rename.
The world has 26 years of Windows usage without such long paths, even after they were introduced in 1993.
So with 26 years of not needing them going on strong, and 18 years of not being used (by anyone other than script kiddies) despite being there, it is an established fact any competent developer don't need them and won't use them. And also, it is an established fact that using them creates trouble for the users. Don't even think about it -- and here I'm not talking about Boost, but about your own efforts.
Suppose you want to write a utility to clean up such paths in the filesystem? If they can't be represented, there's a problem, neh? -- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing http://www.boostpro.com