X-Recipient: archive-cygwin AT delorie DOT com
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=sourceware.org; h=list-id
	:list-unsubscribe:list-subscribe:list-archive:list-post
	:list-help:sender:from:to:references:in-reply-to:subject:date
	:message-id:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding;
	 q=dns; s=default; b=GOYxd8LWOFvNy1VyTrA0vsRVuNlgujVqVRrfmBqk8tx
	jFBW5AdAcUadV0YDZCYr6KuD0engEPCxlBxdWkBJnwq9okge3hCMxwqqLF2TlNw2
	JPlKeg+O+umwtdRsb5IwEdhmNytSodS2SrNb1aByOF8oUvd7t4DOoq9ch5YyKb+I
	=
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed; d=sourceware.org; h=list-id
	:list-unsubscribe:list-subscribe:list-archive:list-post
	:list-help:sender:from:to:references:in-reply-to:subject:date
	:message-id:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding;
	 s=default; bh=nPFpQ9iEUexeSyFHcfjjLigwA7w=; b=KBN4xwJmqkpl47L6R
	t7DT97WI7ju4gvVIuWZpi51k0Yqc7cJ0llizPVHC9wmyHLmTkfPXVe55GMjYOU+R
	hwX3x6T+LNoilI2rXPVNuZss1AZwPwI5Jnoxix7Y0Ukx3DKU5xBm4fMgXNzgiAQk
	64th2e00938xLYTMZSOujyEpN4=
Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm
List-Id: <cygwin.cygwin.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
X-Spam-SWARE-Status: No, score=-2.3 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,KHOP_THREADED,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE,RCVD_IN_HOSTKARMA_YE,SPF_PASS autolearn=ham version=3.3.1
X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;        d=google.com; s=20120113;        h=from:sender:to:references:in-reply-to:subject:date:message-id         :mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:x-mailer         :thread-index:content-language:x-gm-message-state;        bh=HY/PLKAQS13R9gonoHJb90jaA1KBzRqBSsXcDJL/pmQ=;        b=gi5iZuDV/HPjj33b/4Pakw9S07gGYqBlxRVG2jN1CdGlhbdhHNaCrUIxih0NHbq+60         pQlDi0V9JXMhNrhO5521OIb1KZf4QJ0H0A98j3UrtJvAsZ/19q+ITJdPixVs3a7E2Zuy         4ruwUYHxxJS9pNjhSjG64SPzOmVc7qMwwYzGfPGFLyeA1YQW5t6nQ31hRZskErw/LhjP         HA+WdjVcedm87MX6TTIGdE0YWS1AT7ZBTHdv0/BsIBcNk14e8LuTDnc9Dnbor6JCN2wR         u7nf2jFZX/4wmA/0FaQYdBeaIH7px7SjLtERDXtRf2SrYHr2nJbYFH8PL9gbLIiv53D5         yKdg==
X-Received: by 10.68.197.66 with SMTP id is2mr13846374pbc.175.1371491701549;        Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:55:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: <gmt AT malth DOT us>
To: <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
References: <003501ce6b5f$b41f2c10$1c5d8430$%fedin AT samsung DOT com> <kpn4kk$p88$1 AT ger DOT gmane DOT org> <036c01ce6b6d$0ada5090$208ef1b0$@malth.us> <kpnfp7$urd$1 AT ger DOT gmane DOT org>
In-Reply-To: <kpnfp7$urd$1@ger.gmane.org>
Subject: RE: UNC and POSIX paths
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:54:52 -0700
Message-ID: <03b201ce6b83$c5b62720$51227560$@malth.us>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQkWuijBMyQdkn1QCKumvzFsynDjrgCkcWlqODZ6hTaCzZCw00UIJR6rhVxnhB9hK/nr6hc0

On Mon, 17 Jun 2013, at 10:07, Andrew DeFaria thusly quipped:
> On 06/17/2013 08:12 AM, gmt AT malth DOT us wrote:
>>> Why not simply fix the "not very well written configure scripts and
>>> makefiles"instead? BTW I've never come across a single one of those.
>>> Where are you getting yours?
>> Can't answer this offhand (aware you didn't ask me :P) but, under the
>> misguidance of PM's like Gentoo(portage) and rpm(build), when combined
>> with poorly and/or belligerently written packaging scripts, this can
>> happen incessantly.  But that mostly only comes up when building
>> Frankencygwins. Sometimes you can fix it by forcing something like
>> --prefix=///usr/local.

> I'm trying to understand the reluctance towards "fixing the problem" and
instead
> the insistence on "putting a band aid on it". So in the above, why would
you not
> instead do --prefix=/usr/local?

This  is indeed a band-aid in the truest sense of the metaphor.  It relies
on the specificity of POSIX's reservation of "//" for platform purposes (and
cygwin's correct implementation of same) -- unlike "//", anything matching
the regex "^///[/]*$" is, indeed, equivalent to "/".  So, as if the POSIX
"//" reservation wasn't an obscure enough fact, here is a way to /really/
impress people at cocktail parties :)

As to why not fix the upstreams committing these atrocities, it's the
obvious reason -- occasionally one encounters a large body of dense,
non-fixable-by-sed/perl, poorly commented "spaghetti" script-code that makes
"clever," deep usage of the assumption that "//" == "/".  Being able to turn
this feature off at one's option would enable them to rule out "//" as a
problem when they suspect it might be, and have the additional benefit of
not having to fix such code, in order to run it.

-gmt



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