X-Recipient:	archive-cygwin AT delorie DOT com
X-Original-To:	cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Delivered-To:	cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
DMARC-Filter:	OpenDMARC Filter v1.4.1 sourceware.org C7B863857C73
Authentication-Results:	sourceware.org;
	dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=emmenlauer.de
Authentication-Results:	sourceware.org;
	spf=tempfail smtp.mailfrom=emmenlauer.de
Message-ID:	<e2bbb443-b876-40fe-ca58-ab0c7d064f7b@emmenlauer.de>
Date:	Wed, 10 Nov 2021 10:45:53 +0100
MIME-Version:	1.0
User-Agent:	Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20100101
	Thunderbird/91.3.0
To:	cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
From:	Mario Emmenlauer <mario AT emmenlauer DOT de>
X-SA-Exim-Connect-IP:	213.160.25.97
X-SA-Exim-Mail-From:	mario AT emmenlauer DOT de
X-Spam-Checker-Version:	SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on
	server2.sourceware.org
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status:	No, score=-3.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, KAM_DMARC_STATUS,
	MAY_BE_FORGED, TXREP, T_SPF_HELO_TEMPERROR,
	T_SPF_PERMERROR autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
Subject:	Could rm remove files and folders with colon in their name?
X-SA-Exim-Version:	4.2.1 (built Sat, 08 Feb 2020 21:53:50 +0000)
X-SA-Exim-Scanned:	Yes (on aldebaran.he1ix.org)
X-BeenThere:	cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
X-Mailman-Version:	2.1.29
List-Id:	General Cygwin discussions and problem reports <cygwin.cygwin.com>
List-Archive:	<https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/>
List-Post:	<mailto:cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Help:	<mailto:cygwin-request AT cygwin DOT com?subject=help>
List-Subscribe:	<https://cygwin.com/mailman/listinfo/cygwin>,
	<mailto:cygwin-request AT cygwin DOT com?subject=subscribe>
Sender:	"Cygwin" <cygwin-bounces+archive-cygwin=delorie DOT com AT cygwin DOT com>

Dear All,

I've searched if this topic has come up before but could not find it.

Could 'rm' support removing files and folders that have a colon ':' in
their name? I.e. I would like that 'rm -fr' would remove a full directory
tree, including such folders. Currently it will correctly remove anything
inside such folders, but not the folder itself.

As an example, for the following structure:
     C:/root/folder/C:/inside/file.txt

When using 'rm -fr root', afterwards I have:
     C:/root/folder/C:

To remove everything, I can use 'find root -depth -exec rmdir \{\} \;'

I understand that files and folders with colon in their name are illegal
on Windows and not supported very well. But a number of tools manage to
create (and also remove) such files. I've found that even the native
'del' can support this when using the UNC name (see for example
https://serverfault.com/a/96833). It would be great if Cygwin could
also feature this support.

All the best,

     Mario


PS: These folders are created when I use the Cygwin-based build system
for ICU (see https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/icu4c/build.html#how-to-build-and-install-on-windows-with-cygwin)
For me this is in a combination with native Perl for Windows (ActivePerl,
in my case), and using absolute build paths. After using ICU's build
system, I can not remove the build tree anymore. It may be possible to
solve this on the ICU side too. But their automake-and-Perl-based path
mangling is not easily modified, and I've failed to isolate the root
cause of the illegal paths.


-- 
Problem reports:      https://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                  https://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:        https://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:     https://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

- Raw text -