Re: Using GDB in NTEMACS

[Stefan Monnier]

> Windows isn't Unix.  The current code will cause /cygdrive/d/foo to be
> interpreted as x:/cygdrive/d/foo (where x: is the drive letter of the

I'm not sure what current code you're talking about.  If you're talking
about the current Emacs code, then wether it's interpreted as
d:/cygdrive/d/foo or as x:/cygdrive/d/foo is irrelevant since the
filename is wrong anyway.
If you're talking about the current cygwin-mount.el code, then
/cygdrive/d/foo will be interpreted as d:/foo.

> But I cannot afford teaching you all those bits and pieces, pointing
> out all the subtle problems and explaining them, etc.  I don't have
> enough free time for that.  I gave a few examples on the news group,
> which should have been demonstrated some of the subtleties; if that
> wasn't enough, then I give up.

AFAIK you've given examples of ways in which recompiling a unix
program with cygwin can lead to unexpected problems (i.e. limitations
of the cygwin DLL), but I haven't seen any example where the use of
cygwin-mount.el introduces any problem (let along subtle ones).

I don't really care to know whether cygwin's Unix emulation is still
not perfect, all I care about is "why should Emacs not provide a way
to deal with /cygdrive/ paths".

> > Based on my understanding of cygwin's intent, there's no such hope
> > in the near future
> 
> I don't know on what you are basing this.  Did the Cygwin developers
> say they don't intend to fix this, ever?  Did anyone even ask them?

It's based on my understanding of their intent.  If their intent
is to provide a Unix API, then they pretty much have no choice.

> > >  Other similar projects made similar
> > > mistakes in the past.  The previous format of Cygwin names, //c/foo, was
> > > even nastier, so they changed that.  Obviously, Cygwin is on the right
> > > track, they just aren't there yet, IMO.  We should help them by sharing
> > > relevant experience and by requesting that misfeatures such as this one be
> > > solved better than they are now.  If we accept the current situation as
> > > satisfactory, we will get nowehere.
> > 
> > We have gotten nowhere since 1999 with the approach you're advocating.
> 
> We also have gotten nowhere in solving the problems of the famine in
> Africa or the war in Afghanistan.  Those are not our problems to solve.

It's not the same: those who suffer in our case are Emacs users.
Not just cygwin users.  So it is partly our problem.  We get questions
about it on gnu.emacs.help.
And on top of that, we can easily do something about it by including
something like cygwin-mount.el.


        Stefan