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Diffstat (limited to 'winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml')
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1 files changed, 18 insertions, 40 deletions
diff --git a/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml b/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml index 3a4769e9e..5506eeb36 100644 --- a/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml +++ b/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml @@ -2,12 +2,12 @@ <sect2 id="pathnames-intro"><title>Introduction</title> -<para>Cygwin supports both POSIX- and Win32-style paths. Directory +<para>Cygwin supports both Win32- and POSIX-style paths. Directory delimiters may be either forward slashes or backslashes. Paths using -backslashes or starting with a drive letter are always handled as -Win32 paths. POSIX paths must only use forward slashes as delimiter, -otherwise they are treated as Win32 paths and file access might fail -in surprising ways.</para> +backslashes are always handled as Win32 paths. POSIX paths must only +use forward slashes as delimiter, otherwise they are treated as Win32 +paths and file access might fail in surprising ways. UNC pathnames +(starting with two slashes and a network name) are also supported.</para> <note><para>The usage of Win32 paths, though possible, is deprecated, since it circumvents important internal path handling mechanisms. @@ -269,27 +269,11 @@ old user mount points as before. </sect2> -<sect2 id="unc-paths"><title>UNC paths</title> - -<para>Apart from the unified POSIX tree starting at the <filename>/</filename> -directory, UNC pathnames starting with two slashes and a server name -(<filename>//machine/share/...</filename>) are supported as well. -They are handled as POSIX paths if only containing forward slashes. There's -also a virtual directory <filename>//</filename> which allows to enumerate -the fileservers known to the local machine with <command>ls</command>. -Same goes for the UNC paths of the type <filename>//machine</filename>, -which allow to enumerate the shares provided by the server -<literal>machine</literal>. For often used UNC paths it makes sense to -add them to the mount table (see <xref linkend="mount-table"></xref> so -they are included in the unified POSIX path tree.</para> - -</sect2> - <sect2 id="cygdrive"><title>The cygdrive path prefix</title> <para>As already outlined in <xref linkend="ov-hi-files"></xref>, you can access arbitary drives on your system by using the cygdrive path prefix. -The default value for this prefix is <filename>/cygdrive</filename>, and +The default value for this prefix is <literal>/cygdrive</literal>, and a path to any drive can be constructed by using the cygdrive prefix and appending the drive letter as subdirectory, like this:</para> @@ -303,7 +287,7 @@ appending the drive letter as subdirectory, like this:</para> on a system are subsumed. The mount options of the cygdrive prefix is used for all file access through the cygdrive prefixed drives. For instance, assuming the cygdrive mount options are <literal>binary,posix=0</literal>, -then any file <filename>/cygdrive/x/file</filename> will be opened in +then any file <literal>/cygdrive/x/file</literal> will be opened in binary mode by default (mount option <literal>binary</literal>), and the case of the filename doesn't matter (mount option <literal>posix=0</literal>). </para> @@ -705,25 +689,19 @@ Read on for more information.</para> </sect2> <sect2 id="pathnames-posixdevices"> <title>POSIX devices</title> -<para>While there is no need to create a POSIX <filename>/dev</filename> -directory, the directory is automatically created as part of a Cygwin -installation. It's existence is often a prerequisit to run certain -applications which create symbolic links, fifos, or UNIX sockets in -<filename>/dev</filename>. Also, the directories <filename>/dev/shm</filename> -and <filename>/dev/mqueue</filename> are required to exist to use named POSIX -semaphores, shared memory, and message queues, so a system without a real -<filename>/dev</filename> directory is functionally crippled. +<para>There is no need to create a POSIX <filename>/dev</filename> +directory as Cygwin automatically simulates it internally. +These devices cannot be seen with the command <command>ls /dev/</command> +although commands such as <command>ls /dev/tty</command> work fine. +If you want to be able to see all well-known devices in +<filename>/dev/</filename>, you can use Igor Pechtchanski's +<ulink +url="http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2004-03/txt00028.txt">create_devices.sh</ulink> +script. This script does not add the raw disk devices, though. Again, +it's not necessary to see an existing device in /dev to access it. The script +is just for the fun of it. </para> -<para>Apart from that, Cygwin automatically simulates POSIX devices -internally. Up to Cygwin 1.7.11, these devices couldn't be seen with the -command <command>ls /dev/</command> although commands such as -<command>ls /dev/tty</command> worked fine. Starting with Cygwin 1.7.12, -the <filename>/dev</filename> directory is automagically populated with -existing POSIX devices by Cygwin in a way comparable with a -<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udev">udev</ulink> based virtual -<filename>/dev</filename> directory under Linux.</para> - <para> Cygwin supports the following character devices commonly found on POSIX systems: </para> |