-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 C.J. Adams-Collier wrote: > -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Username length > limitation Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 12:15:29 -0800 From: C.J. > Adams-Collier <cjcollier colliertech org> To: support gnome org > > > > > >>>> Hello all, >>>> >>>> We've been discussing on #sysadmin the username length >>>> limitation. I would like to discuss the reason for the > 8-character limit policy >>>> and see about [altering] it. I don't believe that 8 >>>> character > user names >>>> will scale well. Upon further reflection, I also believe that 8-char ascii-only user names are discriminatory in nature and limit the participation of the GNOME development community greatly to those who are trained in the English language, and more strictly, the United States. I think that we as a group would do well to remove this discriminatory limitation from not only GNOME, but the services that we use. I feel that we should move to update any standards that explicitly deny non-ASCII character sets, such as UTF8. To that end, I have hosted a partially wiki-fied version of RFC 2821, which explicitly denies non-ASCII character sets: http://wiki.colliertech.org/index.php?title=Rfc2821&rcid=204 If anyone is interested in removing this limitation, please discuss the alteration here: http://wiki.colliertech.org/index.php?title=Talk:Rfc2821&action=edit >>>> Plus, I prefer that my gnome account be 'cjcollier' >>>> >>>> So... Can someone tell me the rationale behind 8-character >>>> limitation? I have not experienced any problems with the >>>> user name 'cjcollier' since I started using the name in 1998 >>>> other than Microsoft and Amazon requiring shorter account >>>> names, and older IRC servers truncating to the 8-char >>>> variety. >>>> >>>> What are the systems which require less than or equal to 8 >>>> character length user names, and is it possible to patch >>>> these > systems to >>>> work with the longer variety? >>>> >>>> I'd like to get my account set up, but I think that this will >>>> put a hitch in future users' requests if it is not resolved >>>> now. >>>> >>>> Thanks much, >>>> >>>> C.J. >>> >>> rossg - Sun Jan 29 22:04:06 2006]: >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> There are a few good reasons for the 8-character restriction. >>> In fact, one of the reasons is that it is *far more* scalable >>> than longer logins. Please clarify. >>> I understand some people can't see why it's necessary 'in this >>> day and age'. In fact, I looked to have the policy changed when >>> I first started fielding accounts queries too, but I was >>> quickly convinced by the rest of the team that sticking with an >>> 8-character limit was best for now. Maybe that position has >>> changed, I don't know. Please convince me. >>> However, if you want a more in-depth discussion and public >>> debate over the policy, please bring it up on >>> 'gnome-infrastructure gnome org'. Done. > >>> Regards, >>> >>> -- Ross > > I would like to hear discussion from gnome-infrastructure about > whether 8-char usernames is an outmoded or useful anachronism. Is there any interest in this subject other than my own? > I would also like to be the first use case of longer-than-8-char > usernames. I am eager and happy to provide feedback to this list > if and when I ever encounter problems with a longer-than-normal > username. I recommend that someone with a non-ascii-representable native name, such as เขียนว่า take up the task of getting non-ascii-representable username acceptance. > Cheers, > > C.J. > ^^ That's me. > > -- <cjcollier colliertech org> > http://cjcollier.livejournal.com/tag/ +1 206 226 5809 > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFD8jirbS8rWWzCfqgRAiD8AKCnxH1LkTjopA0hMatLAwlY1KrqDwCgpEef QPQlWdQCxbnzOFKQCrr8NFc= =5duk -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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