[boost] Re: boost::filesystem file restrictions

From: Edward Diener (eddielee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-08-15 13:25:14

David Abrahams wrote:
> "Edward Diener" <eddielee_at_[hidden]> writes:
>
>> David Abrahams wrote:
>>> A path on windows that starts with '/' is a set
>>> of instructions which begins: "go to the root of the current
>>> directory path".
>>
>> Correction. It does not mean that. It means go to the root directory
>> of the current drive.
>
> Is the current drive not the same as the root of the current
> directory?  AFAICT, they are locked together.  IOW, I think we were
> saying the same thing.  I just wanted to additionally make it clear
> that even these paths are, in a sense, relative to the current
> directory.

I agree that current drive and current directory are tied to each other and
that your description is technically correct. In fact, to further support
you, the Windows API does not have a current drive call but rather a
GetCurrentDirectory call. The VC++ and BCB RTLs do have _getdrive() calls to
get the current drive, most probably from the current directory.

Still the meaning of '/' in Windows refers commonly to a the root of a drive
( or volume ), and when no drive letter is given, the current drive is
chosen.

My "correction" should have been an elucidation. It still supports your
notion that any path on Windows which does not specify a drive letter is
considered a relative path and any path which does specify a drive letter is
considered an absolute path. I am excluding in that all URI paths.