safe to turn off the MS-DOS path warning?

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

Zouzou wrote:
> hi,
> 
> i have recently updated to Cygwin 1.7 and started encountering some of 
> these warnings:
>  MS-DOS style path detected: C:\Documents\[...]
>  Preferred POSIX equivalent is: /cygdrive/c/Documents/[...]
>  CYGWIN environment variable option "nodosfilewarning" turns off this 
> warning.
>  Consult the user's guide for more details about POSIX paths:
>    http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/using.html#using-pathnames
> 
> i've read the above page as well as a few threads in this list 
> mentioning it, but still don't know what is the reason this warning was 
> added in the first place. is it only in a try to build an ideal world 
> where people would never be using Win paths, in which case i can safely 
> turn the warning off? or are there possible bugs that justify the raison 
> d'être of the warn, and it would be wrong of me to close my eyes on it?

If you're asking if DOS path syntax warning exists because of bugs in
Cygwin or elsewhere, then the answer is no, there is no such bug.

> specifically, the place where i am hitting this most is a set of Perl 
> scripts that i call with the "perl" command. this in turn is part of 
> makefiles so i can't run cygpath or other conversions to change the way 
> the "perl" command is called. so far, it seems to be working fine as it 
> always has with Cygwin 1.5, so i'm thinking of just turning the warning 
> off; but i would like to know if there are possible issues i can run 
> into in the future if i choose to do that.

DOS path name syntax in Cygwin is supported insofar as there is no conflict
with POSIX paths.  Where there is a conflict (or a performance issue), a
choice is made to follow POSIX conventions rather than DOS.

If it worked under 1.5, chances are it will continue to work without
change under 1.7.  If not, you'll need to look at what you're doing and
see if you can push things more to one side or the other.

-- 
Larry Hall                              http://www.rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
216 Dalton Rd.                          (508) 893-9889 - FAX
Holliston, MA 01746

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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