Re: popen binary mode patch

[Eric Blake]

According to Bruce Korb on 2/22/2010 12:25 PM:
> As far as I know, I don't know.  :)  The only thing I know for certain
> is that ``popen (cmd, "rb")'' fails on my box and I know that
> ``fopen (file, "rb")'' works.

POSIX requires fopen(,"rb") to be identical to fopen(,"r"); while C99
requires both to exist but allows them to have different behavior (as a
concession to windows).  However, there is no standard for popen(,"rb").

>> rather than changing gnulib's popen module.
> 
> It's your call.  Personally, I favor having gnulib's popen clients
> be shown a consistent interface across all platforms.

The question, though, is whether cygwin's extension is useful enough to
push on all platforms.  Gnulib tends to favor glibc extensions rather than
cygwin extensions.  In other words, it is hard to justify replacing a
glibc function that is perfectly standards-compliant.

>> Should we file an enhancement bug report to glibc to add support for
>> ignoring 'b'?  It would be easier to justify this patch if we knew for
>> sure that glibc agrees with the concept of this extension.
> 
> Sure.  Thanks!

Are you planning on handling that, or do you need me to step in?

-- 
Don't work too hard, make some time for fun as well!

Eric Blake             address@hidden

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