Re: pathnames containing spaces

[Earnie Boyd]

Scott James Remnant wrote:
> It should also be noted that Libtool suffers heavily from this problem
> also.  The shell uses spaces as separators, which means Libtool isn't
> even able to install to a directory containing a space:
>
> dependency_libs="-L/mnt/Program Files/unix/lib -lfoo"
>
> comes out as three arguments, and quoting the -L argument doesn't
> actually solve that.

As well as many other programs, utilities and scripts.  White space has 
always been used as a delimiter for argument grokking purposes.  Quoting 
the space only helps in some instances and to some point.  If the path 
with a space is stored or even passed to another process then you've got 
to store or pass the quoting mechanisms with it as well.

Although file systems support a space in it's filenames it is 
discouraged from use for practical application purposes.  This 
discouragement is what makes the use of space in filenames non-portable, 
not necessarily the file system itself.  It is much easier to apply 
workarounds to this problem than it is to program for the problem.  The 
chance that you will have further problems with the space if you fix it 
in one place is, IMNSHO, about 99.99% certain.

Good luck with fixing the white space problems in every process that 
reads arguments and uses white space as a delimiter of some sort.

Earnie.
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