The
Rock Ridge extensions to
ISO 9660 define a way for
UNIX file system features like long
mixed-case filenames and
symbolic links to be supported by
CD-ROMs.
Because it's still an
ISO-9660 filesystem, the files can still be read by
machines that don't support Rock Ridge; they just won't see the long forms of the names.
Rock Ridge is supported by
*NIX systems and the
Mac OS. Neither
DOS nor
Windows NT/9x support it, however.