[R-pkg-devel] long file names in tar

[Steven Scott]

My Boom package makes a C++ library available to package authors (mainly
me).  The wrapped library is used outside of R and must comply with
external style rules such as UseLongDescriptiveNames, and files must be
named for the class they contain.  From time to time a
LongDescriptiveFileName, when paired with its full directory path, exceeds
100 characters.

This creates a conflict with CRAN's rules about long file names, which
stems from tar.  I'm wondering what this community thinks about asking for
that rule to be relaxed.  Both gnu tar and posix tar now allow unlimited
length filenames, and the ustar format allows names up to 256 characters.

I'm interested in the opinions of people on this list about whether this
rule has outlived its usefulness.  Thanks.

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