M100331: Application/Package name exceeding the maximum length

This article outlines the problem of exceeding the maximum number of characters supported in the file path name (the file name plus the directory path of its location). Exceeding this maximum causes exporting of packages to SMS or distribution of packages with ManageSoft to fail.

Problem

When you exceed the maximum number of characters supported in the file path name (this includes both the file name and its directory path) of the package, export of the package to SMS will fail. Similarly, the distribution with ManageSoft of any packages having overly long file path names will result in failures.

In the case of excessively long path names, internal functions return truncated trailing components of a path name instead of an error value.

The maximum size of the path name depends on your operating system. As a general guideline, long path names greater than 160 characters might cause problems. The maximum path length represents the length of the file name, in addition to the number of characters used to represent the drive and folder where the file is located.

For example, the path length for the file:
C:\Warehouse\Repository\Packages\LongFileName\LongFileName.extension
is 65 characters, even though the file name is only 20 characters long.

Solution

If problems arise due to the length of the file or path length when:

• Exporting packages to SMS using ManageSoft for SMS
• Distributing packages with ManageSoft

Do the following:

• Reduce the length of the path. (For example, rename the folder so it has a shorter path or shorten the file name.)
• Use a shorter name for the project.

In both cases, you may need to revise your folder structure if the path name is too long.pack file