Cygwin is not passing arguments to Windows apps

[Brian Inglis]

On 2023-12-17 06:45, Karl Crary via Cygwin wrote:
> Thank you, but I guess I posted a bad example then.
> 
> 
> latex --version
> 
> This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.25 (MiKTeX 23.10.12) (preloaded 
> fomat=latex.fmt)
>   restricted \write18 enabled.
> **
> 
> 
> It should print version information, but instead that is what I would expect to 
> see if I ran latex with no arguments.  The same thing happens if I call latex 
> with a filename.  Or, to fix my previous example:
> 
> 
> $ cmd '/?'
> Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.2861]
> (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
> 
> C:\crary>
> 
> 
> Any other thoughts?
> 
> Karl Crary
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 12/17/2023 7:29 AM, Eliot Moss wrote:
>> On 12/16/2023 10:55 PM, Karl Crary via Cygwin wrote:
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> I am encountering a bug wherein Cygwin is not passing arguments to most 
>>> Windows programs (although Cygwin programs are doing fine).
>>>
>>> For example, the following command ought to be dumping a lot of usage 
>>> information, but instead it starts a command prompt, which is what it does 
>>> when not passed any argument.
>>>
>>>
>>> $ cmd /?
>>> Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.2715]
>>> (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
>>>
>>> C:\crary>
>>>
>>>
>>> I am experiencing the same behavior with bash, tcsh, zsh, and also make.  In 
>>> addition to cmd, I've also confirmed that arguments are not being passed to 
>>> wsl, explorer, and (Miktex's) latex.  Some third-party apps are getting their 
>>> arguments, including Standard ML of New Jersey.
>>>
>>> This is a brand-new install on a brand-new Windows 11 machine.  (A Dell 
>>> Precision 3660 tower, if that matters.)  I also tried varying the cygwin dll 
>>> version (a little, not exhaustively) to no effect.
>>>
>>> Any theory as to what could be going on would be most appreciated.
>>>
>>> My cygcheck output (lightly redacted) follows.
>>>
>>> Karl Crary
>>
>> Cygwin's shell (generally bash) will try to pattern match ("glob") the /?
>> because of the ? .  I get intended results if I type:
>>
>> cmd '/?'
>>
>> Because what is in the root directory / may vary from system to system,
>> behavior without the quotes will may vary.
>>
>> HTH -- EM
> 

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis              Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer     but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry