Re: Legacy only
"the baroque file name syntax "drive:[dir1.dir2]filename.ext;version" (with some users preferring <> instead of [] delimiters so you must be prepared for either)"
Yes it's baroque. Partitions and drive letters aren't? Anyway VMS's restricted and "unique" filespecs were one of the reasons VMS's ODS5 file system arrived some considerable number of years (and VMS versions) ago - to allow VMS to support the kind of filenames that lots of applications (and users) expected.
Applications don't HAVE to understand [] and <> as part of filespecs anyway; if applications want to parse that kind of filespec the recommendation has always been to call the VMS-provided routines which do the parsing for you - from a command language script there's f$parse(), and from a real application there's sys$parse. If someone still wants to write their own parser rather than use one supplied by the vendor, then <> vs [] needs to be part of the task, because it's part of the specification.
You've obviously made your mind up after a painful set of experiences. Sorry about that.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
