Bug: File::Spec->path() doesn't keep trailing empty elements about perl5 HOT 9 CLOSED

Windows searches the current directory first by default anyway:

# argv.exe just dumps argv
C:\Users\Tony\dev\perl\git>copy argv.exe jar.exe
        1 file(s) copied.

C:\Users\Tony\dev\perl\git>jar
0: 'jar'

C:\Users\Tony\dev\perl\git>del jar.exe

C:\Users\Tony\dev\perl\git>jar
Usage: jar [OPTION...] [ [--release VERSION] [-C dir] files] ...
Try `jar --help' for more information.

jar.exe is in the first directory in PATH

So I don't think it matters on Win32.

from perl5.

This bug is in ..../File/Spec/Unix.pm

Here, split should be passed a negative value for LIMIT: If LIMIT is negative, it is treated as if it were instead arbitrarily large; as many fields as possible are produced.

According to the POSIX Specifications for PATH, trailing colons are counted as empty elements: A zero-length prefix is a legacy feature that indicates the current working directory. It appears as two adjacent <colon> characters ( "::" ), as an initial <colon> preceding the rest of the list, or as a trailing <colon> following the rest of the list

from perl5.

I am willing to create a PR to fix this, however I'm not sure which other platforms this bug affects.
OS2.pm, Win32.pm, and Unix.pm all use split() to split the $PATH variable and as such are likely susceptible to this bug.

I'm not sure the conventions on Windows or OS2, so I am going to wait until I recieve feedback to start a PR.

from perl5.

I am willing to create a PR to fix this, however I'm not sure which other platforms this bug affects. OS2.pm, Win32.pm, and Unix.pm all use split() to split the $PATH variable and as such are likely susceptible to this bug.

I'm not sure the conventions on Windows or OS2, so I am going to wait until I recieve feedback to start a PR.

Based on @tonycoz's feedback, I recommend creating a pull request consisting of 2 commits.

The first commit should adjust that split line in lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm as you suggest. It should add tests, probably to dist/PathTools/t/Spec.t that would fail if run today but will pass after your code changes. This first commit should also increment $VERSION in all .pm files in the dist/PathTools/ tree in the core distribution (including Cwd.pm). Please make sure that all the tests in dist/PathTools/t/*.t PASS, and please make sure that make test_porting also PASSes.

The second commit should adjust the split line in lib/File/Spec/OS2.pm. I'm suggesting that you do that in a second commit because we probably don't have an OS2 available for testing and if we need to back that change out in the future, it will be easier to have it in a commit of its own.

from perl5.

Also, in the first of the two commits, please run perl Porting/updateAUTHORS.pl to add your name and preferred email address.

from perl5.

@jkeenan Should the second commit (changing OS2.pm) also increment $VERSION? Or should $VERSION only be incremented once?

from perl5.

@jkeenan Should the second commit (changing OS2.pm) also increment $VERSION? Or should $VERSION only be incremented once?

$VERSION should only be incremented once, and it should be the same in all *.pm files in the distribution.

from perl5.

Okay, I'll update them to match. Out of curiosity, why don't the $VERSION values match in bleed?

> git sw -q blead && grep -r 'our \$VERSION =' dist/PathTools/
dist/PathTools/Cwd.pm:our $VERSION = '3.90';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec.pm:our $VERSION = '3.90';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Cygwin.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Epoc.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/VMS.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Functions.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/AmigaOS.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Win32.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Mac.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/OS2.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';

from perl5.

Okay, I'll update them to match. Out of curiosity, why don't the $VERSION values match in bleed?

> git sw -q blead && grep -r 'our \$VERSION =' dist/PathTools/
dist/PathTools/Cwd.pm:our $VERSION = '3.90';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec.pm:our $VERSION = '3.90';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Cygwin.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Epoc.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/VMS.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Functions.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/AmigaOS.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Win32.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Mac.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/OS2.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';
dist/PathTools/lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm:our $VERSION = '3.91';

Error on our part. I have submitted #22404 to correct. Thanks for spotting that.

from perl5.