Long File Name Woes in OS X

[Sannyasin Sivakatirswami]

Here we work entirely in a Mac OS X environment...

Despite my best efforts at the source end of a particular work flow, 
for a sound archiving project, we are still getting long file names 
from PC users on our team...where Windows allows, e.g.

GD_dharmapuram_speech-02-04-83.aif

Since these have been burned onto a CD, that data is not as "moldable"  
as we would like and ideally it could remain the same for future 
cataloging purposes. I could truncate the file names in a cataloging 
process, but then any library system starts to break down as catalog 
entries are no longer a precise match for the original file names on CD.

As you can see I was able to save this file from a CD to a hard drive 
on Mac OS X, the underlying OS File system accepts the overlong name. I 
can view the long file name in the Finder and even copy it and paste 
into this messsage.

but:

my button "Select and Audio File"

global theTape
on mouseUp
   answer file "Locate the sound file you want to transcribe."&\
       "(Must be playable by QuickTime)"  with "OK"
       if it is empty then exit mouseUp
   put it into theTape
   put theTape into fld "soundfile"
   set the filename of player "theTape" to theTape
   send postTime to this stack in 2 seconds
end mouseUp

Returns this in the field in my Rev sound processor, auto truncating 
the file name to the "old" mac standard of 31 characters... using some 
hashed algorithm.

/Varuna/Sound_Projects/India/GD_dharmapuram_speec#11150F.aif

So, as we work to constrain original filename input into process  work 
flow to 31 characters... invariably some files may squeak through and 
be too long...

is there any way I can force Revolution to ignore the mac constraint? I 
would seem that the underlying Unix system of OS X really is not really 
enforcing the file length constraint anyway.

I also face this in other mac apps... particularly mail.app which 
breaks Apples's own convention and allows me to save incoming email 
letters to the editor with the subject line, which are frequently
over length...

e.g. Regarding Mr. Agrawals Comments on the Caste System.txt

then when I try to process these in Rev... i'll get a hashed down 
version.

"Regarding Mr. Agrawa#123245.txt"

help!


Sannyasin Sivakatirswami
Himalayan Academy Publications
at Kauai's Hindu Monastery
katir at hindu.org

www.HimalayanAcademy.com,
www.HinduismToday.com
www.Gurudeva.org
www.Hindu.org