File Names And Places

Info-Mac Archive File Name and Placement Conventions revision 17 Jul 93: DRAFT VERSION --- File Names ---------------------------------------------------------- File Names Must: Contain ONLY lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes. Begin with a letter, not a number or dash. Be 50 characters or less with its directory name(s). Use dashes where words are separated (but not too much). Exclude periods from version numbers. Exclude references to compression software. End with one of the following suffixes: .hqx Binhexed .txt text .shar Unix shell archives .uu Unix uuencoded .bin MacBinary format (rarely used) .etx Setext (only for Tidbits issues) Some examples: DrawNothing 1.41 -> draw-nothing-141.hqx doIt Now 0.9b -> doit-now-09b.hqx QuickTime 2.0 -> quicktime-20.hqx Specific File Format To identify the format of the file more specifically than the suffix does, use an extension JUST BEFORE the suffix. Some common ones: -msdos MS-DOS program -unix Unix program -ps Postscript code -etx Setext text format -msw Microsoft Word -fkey Mac fkey utility -hc Hypercard stacks Descriptive Extensions Some info about files should be placed in file name extensions: -demo incomplete version for demonstration purposes -updt a utility to update a file to a newer version References to Common Mac Things System software: sys607, sys7, sys701, sys71, sys7-finder Not: system-7, system-seven, system7, finder7, finder-7 Mac models: mac-512, mac-plus, mac-se, mac-ii, se30, iici, lcii mac-portable, powerbook, centris-610, quadra-700 Not: power-book, pb, ii-vx, Other software: resedit, quicktime, mactcp System operations: startup, shutdown Date Format The format for dates is "file-name-YY-MM.???" where YY and MM are the numbers of the year and month, respectively. If necessary "-DD" (the day) may be added after the month. Conventions for Specific Directories app/ Filemaker stuff should begin with "filemaker-" per/ File names should include an issue number or date (not both) dev/a4d/ File names should end in one of the following extensions: -ext externals -demo commercial demos -db example databases -info documentation and information -util utilities that don't plug directly into 4D or a database -src native 4d source code dev/src/ File names should end in one of the following extensions: -c C source code -pas Pascal source code -plog Prolog source code info/ Software and hardware company info should begin with "vendor-" info/hdwr/ Specific mac model info should begin with the model name --- File Placement --------------------------------------------------- Things should be archived by topic as much as possible. Some directories are more specific than others, text/ and prn/ are quite definite, whereas app/ and cfg/ are more general. Thing…