Re: [boost] Filesystem Library mini-review

From: Matthias Troyer (troyer_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-12-16 13:56:00

On Monday, December 16, 2002, at 06:41 PM, Beman Dawes wrote:

> At 12:12 PM 12/16/2002, Glen Knowles wrote:
>
> >I think what he might be asking for is something like:
> >
> >make /my/full/path relative to /my/base/dir produces ../../full/path
>
> Ah... Thanks...
>
> The practical problem is determining if two paths are the same. What 
> if the example was rewritten:
>
>     make /My/full/path relative to /my/base/dir
>
>      or
>
>     make /foo/full/path relative to /my/base/dir
>
> Note that on some operating systems, "/foo" may be the same directory 
> as "My".
>
> Is there a reliable way on all operating systems to tell if two 
> textually different paths represent the same underlying directory or 
> file?
>
> It would be easy for a Filesystem Library user to write a convenience 
> function subject to the limitation it only considers lexically 
> identity. I've always felt that is misleading and error prone. For 
> safety, you really would have to have an operating system function 
> that answers the question "do these two paths represent the same 
> entity?"

Thanks Beman. I understand your reluctance to add this to the library 
and will implement it as a "library user convenience function" if I 
need it.

Best regards,

Matthias