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Subject: RE: rm filename length problem
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:43:14 -0700
Message-ID: <23AA05B1B7171647BC38C5D761900EA4021C93DB@DF-SEADOG-MSG.exchange.corp.microsoft.com>
From: Stephan Mueller <smueller AT exchange DOT microsoft DOT com>
To: "cygwin" <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
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One other twist on the potential workaround: You can use the Windows
_subst_ command to assign a new drive letter to an existing drive\path
combination, and then reference the deep files through the new drive
letter, effectively shortening the path.  It appears that after substing
a drive, cygwin mounts it automatically, so aside from the subst
invocation itself, all you need to do is cd to the appropriate directory
using the new path.
 
Disclaimer: I only tried this on Windows XP Home; mileage on other OSes
(particularly Win9x variants) may vary.  Not the Beatles.  May contain
nuts.
 
stephan();

________________________________

From: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com on behalf of Eric Blake
Sent: Tue 7/26/2005 9:52 AM
To: Ken Dibble; cygwin
Subject: Re: rm filename length problem


> I'm having a heck of a time with some long filenames.
>
> kdibble AT BECCOMPUTER /cygdrive/c/Documents And Settings/Ken
Dibble/Local
> Settings/Temporary Internet Files/Content.IE5
> $ rm -Rf *
> rm: cannot remove
>
`450JUVMP/Type=click&FlightID=1991987&AdID=1986689&TargetID=2006165&Segm
ents=200
>
1081,2001256,2001550,2001551,2001761,2001784,2001916,2002090,2002592,200
3057,200
> 30[1]':
> File name too long
> rm: cannot remove directory `450JUVMP': Directory not empty

Unfortunately, Internet Explorer has a habit of creating filenames that
push
the limits of what the filesystem can handle.  The problem you are
running
into is not a bug in rm, but a limitation of cygwin1.dll.  Dave's
suggestion of
shortening the overall pathname by moving the containing directory is
the
best approach I know of.  However be aware that the current cygwin
filename limitations are on the translated Windows version of the name,
so depending on where / is mounted it consumes more or less of the
filename buffer limit, not necessarily the length on the command line.

> FWIW, rsync complains about some filenames being too long as well.

Again, because it is not a bug in rsync, but a fundamental limitation in
cygwin/Windows.  You can also google this list to learn about attempts
to increase the filename length limitation in cygwin for NTFS by using
the alternate Windows API that has a more generous length limit (32k
instead of 256), but no one has yet contributed a complete patch that
does that job without breaking cygwin on Win9x or adding too much
overhead.

>
> cygcheck attached.

You know, upgrading may help as well, as there was a patch in
cygwin-1.5.15 to increase PATH_MAX by one, which MIGHT have been
enough for your example (but no guarantees).  Currently, cygwin is at
1.5.18, bash at 3.0-8, and coreutils-5.3.0-9 replaces fileutils-4.1-2.

>     Cygwin DLL version info:
>         DLL version: 1.5.11
> bash                    2.05b-16          
> compface                1.4-5             
> cron                    3.0.1-12          
> fileutils               4.1-2             

--
Eric Blake
volunteer cygwin coreutils maintainer


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