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Date:	Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:30:31 -0500
From:	"Larry Hall (Cygwin)" <reply-to-list-only-lh AT cygwin DOT com>
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Subject:	Re: Will win32 style paths ever work in mksh on cygwin?
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On 12/1/2011 4:22 AM, Oliver wrote:
> Folks,
>
> this is a question for which I have not found a solution in the web...
> It seems that win32 style paths do not work in mksh.
> The command
> cd c:/
> fails in mksh because the path is not POSIX style.
> The only reference I found to this on the mksh project web site
> states that mksh uses POSIX paths only and will never support win32 style
> paths.
>
> On the other hand, the cygwin documentation seems to claim that cygwin will
> support both, win32 style paths and POSIX style paths.
>
> Are there any plans to make mksh on cygwin win32-path aware, or will mksh on
> cygwin support only POSIX?
> If it remains to be POSIX only, and pdksh apparently gone from the list
> of shells, is the only alternative to rewrite all existing ksh scripts
> that might use win32 style paths?

I'm not the Cygwin mksh maintainer but I'd recommend your statement above as
a general axiom in this case.  Obviously, if the Cygwin mksh maintainer
decides that it makes sense to do the extra work and maintain a Cygwin-
specific patch to support Windows-style paths, then things would change in
the future.  But you're betting on the generosity of the maintainer here
so your safe bet is to take what the upstream maintainers recommend.  Also,
while Cygwin doesn't go out of its way to make Windows-style paths unusable,
the support for them is secondary to the main goal of providing a POSIXy
or Linux-like environment.  As far as paths are concerned, that means
sometimes there are conflicts that only POSIX paths can resolve.  So while
it's fair to say that Windows-style paths are generally usable in Cygwin,
POSIX paths are always recommended and are sometimes the only alternative.

-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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