

Why path lengths in .NET Framework are limited to 260 characters - tshtf
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bclteam/archive/2007/02/13/long-paths-in-net-part-1-of-3-kim-hamilton.aspx

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tptacek
When you read this keep in mind that decisions like this are meant to help the
vast number of .NET developers in corporate America. This is something
Microsoft does very well: they are willing to make compromises to
functionality in order to get secure defaults. I can't think of a lot of other
companies that do that.

------
bediger
tl;dr version: to be compatible with MS-DOS, a system that was detrimentally
"parsimonious" with memory.

~~~
CodeMage
Downvoted for being not only inaccurate, but incorrect as well. There is no
such thing as "maximum path length" in DOS. Interrupt 21h, for example, used
ASCIIZ path which could be up to 64k long, terminator included (due to how
memory was addressed in real mode). I believe that the shell considered the
path to be up to 80 characters long, but I could be wrong about that.

Had you actually read the article -- which, one hopes, would be a prerequisite
for writing a "tl;dr" version -- you would've understood that 260 characters
is a limit imposed by Windows API.

