[x86_64 on W7] Cannot remove cygwin root directory

Larry Hall (Cygwin) reply-to-list-only-lh@cygwin.com
Wed Oct 16 13:35:00 GMT 2013


On 10/16/2013 8:19 AM, Frédéric Bron wrote:
>> There is an upstream packaging bug that caused two copies of the README file
>> to be installed, one of which is called "README." (including the dot).  I
>> guess Windows is confused by whatever Cygwin does to allow file names to
>> include a dot.  But you can delete the file from a Cygwin bash shell.
>
> Thanks a lot. I reinstalled a minimum cygwin in another directory and
> could rm -rf the old cygwin root directory.
> This is strange that cygwin can remove something Windows cannot...

Not at all.  Historically, going back to 8.3 DOS file name days, the "dot"
wasn't stored as part of the name.  So "name" and "name." were the same.
"cmd.exe" still maintains compatibility with this historical behavior.
However, Cygwin uses an API that makes the distinction, so "name" and
"name." are different.

-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

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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