File.basename default suffix?

Hi all,

A recent discussion on file renaming made me wonder something about 
File.basename.

Is there any reason that the suffix shouldn't default to ".*" ?

Current behavior:  File.basename("foo.rb") # -> "foo.rb"
Proposed behavior: File.basename("foo.rb") # -> "foo"

The current behavior just seems rather pointless to me.  Or is there a 
good reason for not setting the suffix to a default value?

Regards,

Dan