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Re: file system name case insensitivity issue: Possible inclusion for the FAQ or User Manual?


On 5/26/2011 3:35 PM, Christopher Faylor wrote:
On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 02:28:53PM -0400, Lee Rothstein wrote:
Issue: Possible confusing consequences of CYGWIN variable option:
glob:noignorecase

What follows is an edited transcript of my confusion about trying
to find the command "xwin" (and eventual resolution), having
forgotten about its capitalization. More specifically, I was
trying to figure out if it was a binary or a script (not having
used X in the last year, or so).

BTW, the reason I had glob:noignorecase set was to catch
capitalization errors on HTML file names I develop for a
LAMP server.
Re: http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/using-cygwinenv.html

   (no)glob[:ignorecase] - if set, command line arguments containing
   UNIX-style file wildcard characters (brackets, question mark, asterisk,
   escaped with \) are expanded into lists of files that match those
   wildcards.  This is applicable only to programs running from a DOS
   command line prompt.  Default is set.

There was no DOS command line prompt in anything below.

True. So, you're saying that 'glob:noignorecase' had no effect on
the commands executed. Then the issue that the transcript reveals
is that in Cygwin, case sensitivity only affects filename specs
if globbing is used. That may, in fact, have been covered somewhere
in the documentation. (?) The transcript makes clear the dramatic
and confusing effects this can have.

But, then, I'm *sure* I'm /more/ easily confused than you. :-|, ;-)
Just like lots of other users.

cgf

The transcript, however, indicates the option will not achieve my
aim.
--
/ $ cd /bin

/bin $ echo $CYGWIN
tty title nodosfilewarning glob:noignorecase winsymlinks ntsec

/bin $ type xwin
/bin/xwin

/bin $ which xwin
/bin/xwin

/bin $ ls -l xwin
-rwxrwx--- 1 lr root 2080270 Apr 22 14:45 xwin

/bin $ ls -l xwin*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 lr root  24590 Oct 14  2009 xwininfo.exe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 lr root 172544 Jan 19  2009 xwinwm.exe

# 'rwhich' is a case insensitive regex command finder script,
# I wrote, not a part of the Cygwin distribution

/bin $ rwhich $ rwhich xwin
/local/Scripts/start_xwin.old
/bin/dmxwininfo.exe
/bin/lyxwin.exe
/bin/startxwin.exe
/bin/XWin.exe
/bin/xwininfo.exe
/bin/xwinwm.exe

/bin $ ls -l XWin*
-rwxrwx--- 1 lr root 2080270 Apr 22 14:45 XWin.exe

/bin $ xwin
--
<Successfully starts X Windows>
--
And, yes, had I thought of it first, I could have used 'file':

/bin $ file xwin
xwin: PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386 (stripped to external PDB), for
MS Windows

but the capitalization issue remains.

Finally, I am aware of the change that can be made to the
registry that will make the file system case sensitive, but I've
been burned in the past by non-standard changes to the registry,
and will avoid that.

BTW, it's little excursions like this that make me value Cygwin
more, not less. Creating the illusion of a coherent *NIX
environment on Windows is non-trivial. Thanks, Cygwin developers.

Lee




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