The Evolution of Unix Filename Length Limits

Early Unix versions had surprisingly short filename limits: initially just 8 bytes, later increasing to 14. This was tied to Unix's simple directory structure design. The article delves into the directory structures of Unix V4 and earlier, explaining the reasons behind the filename length evolution and how 16-byte directory entries better fit 512-byte disk blocks. It also touches upon the limited number of inodes in early Unix, reflecting some of the hard-coded limitations of early systems.