Re: File URLs in NSURL

[Fred Kiefer]

Richard Frith-Macdonald wrote:
> > When using absoluteString instead of relativeString I get:
> > file://localhost/home/fred/GNUstep/Images/TextSystem1.png
>
> There I agree ... IMO the RFCs imply that the hostname part of a file 
> scheme URL should be an empty string, which would give 
> file:///home/fred/GNUstep/Images/TextSystem1.png.
> However, MacOS-X puts 'localhost' in the hostname position, so the 
> GNUstep code is written to be compatible with this.
>
> > Again this will result in a different MD5 digest than the one expected 
> > by the thumbnail standard, so we wont find the correct file. The 
> > question now is, if there is another method to get the required string 
> > or if this is a bug in GNUstep, which we should correct.
>
> I suggest using the -absoluteString method and removing the 'localhost'
>
> While I think that the MacOS-X implementation is strange, it's the 
> definitive guide for this class (it's not in OpenStep), so I'de be very 
> hesitant to 'fix' this and break compatibility.

So what should we do? If we stick with the MacOSX compaible way, we will 
always end up with a different MD% digest than every non-GNUstep 
application, so we cannot reuse thumbnails. I was hoping that we switch 
over to the standard behaviour and maybe only keep the Apple way on 
MacOSX? (Not sure if there are thumbnails on this OS and where they get 
stored)