Windows-style pathname does not work as command - why?

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 9/8/2010 11:58 AM, Daniel Barclay wrote:
> Christopher Faylor wrote:

<snip>

>> And, trying hard to make MS-DOS stuff work is sorta counter to the
>> whole reason for Cygwin.
>
> Isn't the whole reason for Cygwin actually to enable doing Unixy things
> in Windows (that is, providing Windows/Unix interoperablity?

No, that's not a key goal.  From the Cygwin main web page:

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of two parts:

# A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux API emulation layer providing
   substantial Linux API functionality.
# A collection of tools which provide Linux look and feel.

So, since Linux doesn't support Windows path syntax, it's not a goal for
Cygwin to be able to do it either.  That's not to say that Cygwin won't
support it.  Just that if it's hard to make it work in all cases, then
the result will likely be that those cases just don't work unless you
use POSIX-style paths.

-- 
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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