From 8ad852ac1209ed34ea19126097e63b1e7a4e4d9d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ken Brown Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2016 13:24:49 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Clarify Cygwin's support for Win32 paths See https://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2016-08/msg00431.html. --- winsup/doc/pathnames.xml | 14 +++++++++----- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) diff --git a/winsup/doc/pathnames.xml b/winsup/doc/pathnames.xml index 3c0bdc133..6f9fefa24 100644 --- a/winsup/doc/pathnames.xml +++ b/winsup/doc/pathnames.xml @@ -6,15 +6,18 @@ Introduction -Cygwin supports both POSIX- and Win32-style paths. Directory +The Cygwin DLL supports both POSIX- and Win32-style paths. Directory delimiters may be either forward slashes or backslashes. Paths using backslashes or starting with a drive letter are always handled as Win32 paths. POSIX paths must only use forward slashes as delimiter, otherwise they are treated as Win32 paths and file access might fail in surprising ways. -The usage of Win32 paths, though possible, is deprecated, -since it circumvents important internal path handling mechanisms. +Although the Cygwin DLL supports Win32 paths, not all +Cygwin applications support them. Moreover, the usage of Win32 paths +circumvents important internal path handling mechanisms. This usage +is therefore strongly deprecated and may be removed in a future +release of Cygwin. See and for more information. @@ -451,11 +454,12 @@ filesystem borders by commands like find -xdev. Using native Win32 paths -Using native Win32 paths in Cygwin, while possible, is generally +Using native Win32 paths in Cygwin, while often possible, is generally inadvisable. Those paths circumvent all internal integrity checking and bypass the information given in the Cygwin mount table. -The following paths are treated as native Win32 paths in Cygwin: +The following paths are treated as native Win32 paths by the +Cygwin DLL (but not necessarily by Cygwin applications):