Re: 'cp' utility bug when <dest-name>.exe file exist.

[RISINGP1 at nationwide dot com]

>> I disagree.  This seems to me to be adopting the Microsoft policy of 
doing
>> the user's thinking for them:  "I don't care what they want - we know
>> what's best for them."  If a person wants to have "foo" and "foo.exe" 
in
>> the same directory, that should be allowed.  A few times getting 
tripped
>> up by the wrong thing executing will be a good life lesson for the 
person,
>> and teach about how different operating systems work to boot.  Should I
>> create "foo" as an executable, and "foo.exe" exists, then if I want to 
run
>> "foo.exe", I should have to call it out specifically.  I can see this
>> might cause some confusion should, unbeknownst to the user, "foo.exe"
>> exists earlier in the path than "foo", but that would become an
>> education on how to use the PATH variable.  This confusion arises
>> from Cygwin's kowtowing to Microsoft's dubious idea of using extensions 
to
>> control the handling of files.
>
>If you took away Cygwin's .exe extension handling and just relied on
>file permissions like Unix, then using Cygwin tools from a cmd.exe
>prompt would become problematic.
>
>Windows wants that .exe (or .bat or .cmd or .msi, etc) extension and
>doesn't give a whip if you chmod a file's permissions +x.  Without an
>extension, Windows has no idea what to do with the file.
>
>That's fine if you never do anything with Cygwin commands outside of a
>Cygwin shell, but I don't think this is a globally desirable
>behaviour.
>

Just a question:

Shouldn't it be up to the user to determine how a file is to be used, and
name the file accordingly?

If the file is to used only in a Cygwin environment, leave the extension
off is desired.

If the file is to used in both a Cygwin and a Windows environment, add an
extension (like ".sh" or ".exe" or whatever is needed).  It is easy enough
to teach Windows how to recognize what to do with a new extension (like
".sh").

I am just against operating systems making decisions for the user, or
restricting him/her unnecessarily.  And, yes, I know that this happens
all the time...

Phil Rising    risingp1@nationwide.com

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