From: Marc Singer <nbn.nbn.com!sapien!elf>
Subject: Changing CHDIR and MKDIR semantics
To: nbn.nbn.com!sapien!sun.soe.clarkson.edu!djgpp (DJGPP List Alias)
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 09:39:03 -0700 (PDT)

I found that while porting a UN*X program to DJGPP that the semantics
of chdir () differ from UN*X.  DJGPP does the normal MSDOG thing which
is to change the current directory on the specified drive:
  chdir ("d:/foo");
changes the directory for d: to /foo.  Obviously.

The trouble is that on UN*X, the specified directory is made the
current directory because there are no drive letters to contend with.
If I'm on c: and I do the above command, I am still on c:, but this
behavior is not expected by the UN*X program.  I had to write a new
version of chdir that changed to the current drive to the target drive
before changing to the directory.

So, the questions is whether or not we want to support a UN*X
compatible behavior in chdir.  I suspect something similar happens in
mkdir, but I haven't look into it yet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
          Marc Singer       | "... but when you eat this ... pear, you
       elf AT netcom DOT com       |  are rarely aware of the fact that it was
   or  elf AT sapien DOT com       |  ... plucked from the branch of this ... 
< My comments are my own. > |  pear tree." -- Charlie V.