X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:52:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Igor Peshansky <pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu>
Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
To: Michael Hirsch <mdhirsch AT gmail DOT com>
cc: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Why are Windows paths broken in make 3.81?
In-Reply-To: <9c2aabaf0607260912n4d17a340j533a049565234c00@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.63.0607261442340.21105@access1.cims.nyu.edu>
References: <9c2aabaf0607211629u4e29ffa1w5f09b3d8e5a923fc AT mail DOT gmail DOT com>    <e9rrqr$6ei$1 AT sea DOT gmane DOT org> <9c2aabaf0607260912n4d17a340j533a049565234c00 AT mail DOT gmail DOT com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:cygwin-unsubscribe-archive-cygwin=delorie DOT com AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:cygwin-subscribe AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Archive: <http://sourceware.org/ml/cygwin/>
List-Post: <mailto:cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Help: <mailto:cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com>, <http://sourceware.org/ml/#faqs>
Sender: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com
Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT cygwin DOT com

On Wed, 26 Jul 2006, Michael Hirsch wrote:

> On 7/21/06, mwoehlke <mwoehlke AT XXXXX DOT XXX> wrote:

<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#PCYMTNQREAIYR>.  Thanks.

> > Michael Hirsch wrote:
> > [snip]
> > > Is it broken only on Windows?
> >
> > That sounds like a silly question... 'are Windows paths only broken on
> > Windows?'
>
> It sounds like a silly question, but it isn't.  I tested, and yes, if
> you have a directory named "c:" in Linux, make is broken on that
> directory, too.  Since "c:" is a valid name in Linux (and POSIX, I
> believe) I consider that a bug in make.  I'll have to report that to
> GNU, as it is not a cygwin issue.  The error message on Linux is just
> as incomprehensible as it is Cygwin, too, so at least I know who to
> talk to about it.

While ':' is a valid filename character on Linux (though not on all
filesystems, obviously), it is a special character in make.  So you need
to be careful when using it in Makefiles.  Just like '>' is a valid
filename character, but you would not expect to be able to use it unquoted
in your shell.

> > > Is this a cywin only bug?  What possible reason could there be to
> > > introduce this deliberately?
> >
> > No, as it is not a "bug". However it is specific to Cygwin. See the
> > aforementioned announcement. CGF would have to speak to "why" (and I
> > would appreciate if he would, just because I am curious :-)), but I
> > would guess it is to "encourage" people to use correct (i.e. POSIX)
> > paths.
>
> I guess that was the reason.  How disappointing.  I always thought
> that cygwin provided a great service by allowing me to use both
> windows and posix paths.  I'll miss that capability a lot.

I don't think any of the Cygwin package maintainers would deliberately
break existing functionality for some purist reasons.  Besides, there's no
need to guess.  CGF already stated the reason: maintaining a
Cygwin-specific patch to support this functionality has become too
cumbersome, and CGF decided that his volunteer effort is better spent
doing other, more important things for Cygwin.

HTH,
	Igor
-- 
				http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/
      |\      _,,,---,,_	    pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu | igor AT watson DOT ibm DOT com
ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_		Igor Peshansky, Ph.D. (name changed!)
     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		old name: Igor Pechtchanski
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"Las! je suis sot... -Mais non, tu ne l'es pas, puisque tu t'en rends compte."
"But no -- you are no fool; you call yourself a fool, there's proof enough in
that!" -- Rostand, "Cyrano de Bergerac"

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