top | item 18375364

(no title)

antonyme | 7 years ago

It's not a bug - it's a feature: reserved filenames which have special features and functions. And it has been preserved through DOS, and Windows over the years as part of Microsoft's philosophy of "compatibility at all costs".

There are many, many examples of similar (mis)features. Not sure why this particular one is getting so much attention. But yeah, if you know the history, it's not really surprising.

For anyone interested in this sort of software archeology, have a look at Raymond Chen's blog https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/ which is full of this stuff. Very interesting reading.

discuss

isostatic|7 years ago

"The file AUX.H is too large for the system"

That's a bug. It should say something closer to "The filename AUX.H is a reserved filename and can not be used by this system"

kjaer|7 years ago

I just tried it on Windows 10, and the error message is:

    This file name is reserved for use by Windows. Choose another name and try again.

So at least that has been fixed.