[R-SIG-Mac] testing/asserting case sensitivity

[Taras Zakharko]

Ben,

The way I approach these things is using Github Classrooms and pre-configured Actions. Takes a bit of extra work to set up initially but saves so much time in the long run.

Otherwise, the "classical" solution would be to mandate that all files should have lowercase naming in your rubrics and dock points for violations 🙂 One could provide them with a script that checks that everything in the project folder follows the naming conventions.

I am less convinced that a feasible solution can be found from within R itself.

Best,

Taras

________________________________
From: R-SIG-Mac <r-sig-mac-bounces using r-project.org> on behalf of Ben Bolker <bbolker using gmail.com>
Sent: 17 January 2026 21:57
To: r-sig-mac using r-project.org <r-sig-mac using r-project.org>
Cc: Bio 708 <bio708qmee using gmail.com>
Subject: [R-SIG-Mac] testing/asserting case sensitivity

   I have a problem/annoyance with students who are working on MacOS and
sharing Git repositories with data file and code where the strings used
in their code to designate the data files are not case-matched to the
actual names of the files on disk.  They don't notice this because
they're using a case-insensitive file system on MacOS, but it bites me
when I try to run the code on my Linux system.

   I can of course tell them to be more careful, but: is there any kind
of programmatic check for this that they could use when testing their
code before submission? (Students are not super-technically savvy, so
telling them to adjust the properties of their file systems, even if
it's something that's possible, is not a realistic option; neither is
telling them to use GitHub Actions to run checks elsewhere ...)

   I'm imagining (ideally) some kind of _CHECK_CASE_STRICTLY_
environment variable/options setting/etc., but I'd be interested in any
creative solutions.

   Tangentially related:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/1ha36y5/macos_apfs_caseinsensitive_and_handling_git_repo/

   cheers
    Ben Bolker


--
Dr. Benjamin Bolker
Professor, Mathematics & Statistics and Biology, McMaster University
Associate Chair (Graduate), Department of Mathematics & Statistics
Director, School of Computational Science and Engineering
> E-mail is sent at my convenience; I don't expect replies outside of working hours.

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