Re: [boost] [Filesystem] i18n

From: Peter Dimov (pdimov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-03-31 06:02:22

Beman Dawes wrote:
> At 05:28 PM 3/30/2005, Peter Dimov wrote:
>
>> Martin wrote:
>>> - non-throwing is_* functions. I find it very inconvenient and error
>>> prune to put try/catch around each is_directory call. Calling
>>> is_accessible before every other is_* function is an option but not
>>> much easier and still leaves a risk for an exception if another
>>> process is accessing the file.
>>
>> Did is_accessible get added, after all?
>
> Yes.
>
>> That's bad. Let's remove it before
>> it gets standardized and it's too late. :-)
>
> ?

It is a hack. Only "useful" on Windows, and only because of implementation 
details. It is not clear what is_accessible actually does, or why it should 
be used. It is not referenced anywhere else. The implementation does not 
reflect the description; on Windows it maps to GetFileAttributes and returns 
false if that fails, but for some "inaccessible" files it is possible to 
obtain the attributes using FindFirstFile.

The latter is particularly relevant in directory iteration loops; every item 
in such an iteration is "accessible" because the act of iteration gives you 
the attributes on our supported platforms. Yet is_accessible returns false 
for some of the items.

I may be wrong, of course.