Re: [boost] the first version of abstract path manipulation class (interface)

From: Carl Daniel (cpdaniel_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-24 15:49:14

From: "Jani Kajala" <jani_at_[hidden]>
> 'Path name' can be the name of a file or a directory. The name is 'abstract' in
> a sense that it might not be even valid file/path name for given platform.
> Example: Windows/DOS does not support '/' as separator, even though every C
> library on the platform happens to do it for compatibility. I think it is good
> to make distinction which is platform specific name and which isn't.

All Windows APIs support / as a path separator - it is not a function of the C/C++ RTL.  The command shell (cmd.exe),
however, does not support / in paths, and many command-line programs won't parse arguments correctly if / is used
instead of \.  It is, however, an application convention, not an OS requirement.

From: "Stewart, Robert" <stewart_at_[hidden]>
> > - In DOS/Windows, pathnames are case insensitive, but they are stored in
> > upper case, so "norm_case" returns the wrong case. Other case insensitive
> > platforms may conventionally use lower case, so this should be configurable.

Not true.  Windows filesystems since Windows 95 are case-insensitive, case-preserving.  Only Windows 3.1 era and earlier
versions of DOS store directory/file name as uppercase.

-cd