Re: [Nmh-workers] Meaning of "+." or "+.."

[Sean Kamath]

Joel Reicher wrote:
> I've looked at the code now and it's quite clear that the meaning of
> a folderspec beginning with either dot or double dot is relative to
> the current working directory, not the Path: profile entry.
>
> Does anyone know why or have thoughts on whether these semantics should
> be kept? It seems very deliberate.
>
> I can understand the thinking; "+/..." specifies an absolute path by
> treating the leading '/' as a special case, so dot and double dot
> are regarded similarly as special cases.
>
> There's a fair bit to consider here, including implications for "+" on
> its own as a folder spec. So far I'm inclined towards changing the meaning
> of "+." and "+..", but I don't use these features and would prefer to hear
> from people who do.

I use them all the time (+. and +../../../../alternative/path).  I'd be sad if
they went away.

Frankly, it also makes sense to me that . and .. are special cased.  Who on
earth thinks in terms of relative paths to *anything* save their current working
directory?  Every time you run across an application that starts file names from
a specified location, doesn't it feel completely wonky?  Don't you feel like
you're somehow attempting to circumvent some security thing?  I do.

My $0.02

Sean