Re: cp, install, and the .exe extension

[Robert R Schneck-McConnell <schneck at math dot berkeley dot edu>]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004, Larry Hall wrote:
[on changing the error message when cp can stat but not open a file
 due to .exe handling]
> How about a patch instead of a request? ;-)

Okay, attached.  I've also attached a textutils patch to enact my earlier
request that "cat > foo" create foo in the whatever mode Cygwin would
usually want, rather than always using text mode.


> OK, I'm just kiddin' you. ;-)  Think about a 'cp' that transparently handles
> '.exe' and a directory with 'foo' and 'foo.exe'.  You need to be able to
> copy both.  'install' is a special purpose utility.  Many projects that
> use it to install don't consider that executables may require extensions on
> other platforms.  So they're written to just install 'foo'.  That causes
> install failures.  It makes sense to "relax" the rules here, since it
> helps more than it hurts.  The reverse is true for 'cp' and other general
> purpose utilities.

As for being *able* to copy both foo and foo.exe, the special .exe
handling only occurs when *only* foo.exe exists.  So you certainly can
copy both.  As for install failures, I first started thinking about cp's
behavior due to a Makefile using cp rather than install.

That said, I do suppose the danger is less this way.

Hey, it might be interesting for managed mounts *really* to identify the
filenames "foo" and "foo.exe".  (Maybe they already do?)

Robert

Attachment: fileutils.patch
Description: Text document

Attachment: textutils.patch
Description: Text document

--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/