Re: [bug-gnulib] new module for temporary files in temporary directories

[Bruno Haible]

Ben Pfaff wrote:
> > /* Create a temporary directory.
> >    PREFIX is used as a prefix for the name of the temporary directory. It
> >    should be short and still give an indication about the program.
> >    Return a fresh 'struct temp_dir' on success.  Upon error, an error 
> > message
> >    is shown and NULL is returned.  */
> > extern struct temp_dir * create_temp_dir (const char *prefix);
> 
> I find the description just a little confusing: PREFIX is a
> prefix for the *base name* of the temporary directory.  It
> actually goes in the middle of the directory name.

I guess you are confused because of the distinction between "filename" in
the POSIX sense (= pathname component) and "filename" in the sense that
is matches a user's mind and that Paul Eggert wants to use also in APIs.

In the next version, this function will take an additional PARENTDIR argument,
to accomodate GNU sort's -T option. That should avoid the confusion in this
particular case.

Bruno