objects in the file system hierarchy. Example: a device unit <filename>dev-sda.device</filename> refers to a device
with the device node <filename index="false">/dev/sda</filename> in the file system.</para>
- <para>The escaping algorithm operates as follows: given a string, any <literal>/</literal> character is replaced by
- <literal>-</literal>, and all other characters which are not ASCII alphanumerics or <literal>_</literal> are
- replaced by C-style <literal>\x2d</literal> escapes. In addition, <literal>.</literal> is replaced with such a
- C-style escape when it would appear as the first character in the escaped string.</para>
+ <para>The escaping algorithm operates as follows: given a string, any <literal>/</literal> character is
+ replaced by <literal>-</literal>, and all other characters which are not ASCII alphanumerics,
+ <literal>:</literal>, <literal>_</literal> or <literal>.</literal> are replaced by C-style
+ <literal>\x2d</literal> escapes. In addition, <literal>.</literal> is replaced with such a C-style escape
+ when it would appear as the first character in the escaped string.</para>
<para>When the input qualifies as absolute file system path, this algorithm is extended slightly: the path to the
root directory <literal>/</literal> is encoded as single dash <literal>-</literal>. In addition, any leading,