From: bob DOT mcgowan AT artecon DOT com (Bob McGowan) Subject: RE: B19; supporting a DOS-path such as C:\a\b\c;C:\d\e\f;D:\g\h 15 May 1998 15:00:26 -0700 Message-ID: <8B40B8756FA1D111BCB900A02495E24F36B47F.cygnus.gnu-win32@neptune.xstor.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain To: "'gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com'" -----Original Message----- From: chris AT godzilla DOT activesw DOT com [mailto:chris AT godzilla DOT activesw DOT com] Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 1998 2:32 PM To: gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Subject: B19; supporting a DOS-path such as C:\a\b\c;C:\d\e\f;D:\g\h > Cygnus Folks, > > Let me first say that I like using bash on windows (cmd.exe makes me > insane). Naturally, bash uses a Unix-style PATH for finding things. My sentiments, exactly. > However, when bash runs "native" Windows applications these see a > Unix-style PATH but expect a DOS style path. An example of this would be > 'nmake', or the Microsoft Tools (C compiler, linker, etc). > Too bad you have to go "native", but I know what you mean... > After checking the sourcecode, it seems as if src/bash/general.c lines > 881 & 883 is where the magic happens (i.e., splitting on ':'). What > about allowing an environment variable that controls what character is > used to split the PATH? > > A question at hand is if the implementation of "open" and friends in > cygwin32.dll understand DOS-style paths - but they might do that, so it > should work. > > Any feedback on this one? I have (and it is still available at one or more of the big DOS archives) a tool set and ksh compatible shell for DOS (16 bit and 32bit with DOS extender). The author of this shell introduced an interesting feature, which perhaps could be used in bash. He modified the shell to read a special setup file that contained a list DOS command names. If I remember correctly, when the shell saw one of these names, it did no command line changes or substitutions but simply passed the whole line to cmd.com with the /c option. It has been a while since I used it and I do not for sure recall if there may have been _some_ processing of the line (for $var's and backticks at least) but in general if backslashes were seen they were left as is and if forward slashes were used in a path, they were translated to backslashes. You get the general idea, though, that the shell was changed to allow the co-existence of both types of commands. Maybe this could also work for bash with the cygwin dll? --- Bob McGowan i'm: bob dot mcgowan at artecon dot com - For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to "gnu-win32-request AT cygnus DOT com" with one line of text: "help".