[boost] Re: Assorted filesystem improvements

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-11-03 16:12:31

Beman Dawes <bdawes_at_[hidden]> writes:

> At 11:14 PM 10/31/2003, Walter Landry wrote:
>
>  >I still haven't heard anything, but I found another problem with
>  >symlinks.  Consider the directory structure
>  >
>  >  foo
>  >  foo/bar
>  >  foo/bar/baz
>  >  foo/bar/baz/bat
>  >  foo/frob --> bar/baz/
>  >
>  >where the last directory is a symlink.  If I am sitting in foo and type
>  >
>  >  $ ls frob/../baz
>  >
>  >I get
>  >
>  >  bat/
>  >
>  >However, the filesystem library wants to shorten this into just "baz".
>  >This, of course, is incorrect.  So it seems like you should never
>  >attempt to shorten a path by removing any instances of "../".  Rather,
>  >boost::filesystem can provide methods to get the fully canonical name
>  >of a path.  I don't know about Windows, but this seems to map more
>  >closely with Unix semantics.  Agree?  Disagree?
>  >
>  >Looking for feedback.
>
> The current design of class path is based on purely syntactic
> considerations. There is no consideration of any meaning or attributes
> attached to any name. Conversion to canonical form is based on syntax
> only.
>
> It would be possible to maintain the path exactly as entered, rather
> than converting to canonical form. 

For what it's worth (not much probably), my intuition tells me that
preserving the native form of a path is the right way to do it.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com