[Gcl-devel] RE: [Axiom-developer] building Axiom with GCL Version_2_6_7pre fa ils

[Page, Bill]

On Friday, May 27, 2005 12:20 AM Mike Thomas wrote:

> ...
> Lispworks gives:
>
> CL-USER 1 > (probe-file "./")
> #P"C:/Documents and Settings/miketh/"
>
> CL-USER 2 > (truename "./")
> #P"C:/Documents and Settings/miketh/"
>
> Corman Lisp gives:
>
> (probe-file "./")
> NIL
> (truename "./")
> #P"C:/Documents and Settings/miketh/"

> ...
> 1. Which behaviour is correct on Windows?  (I believe that "." and
> ".." are actual entities on Unix, but not Windows.  Convenience
> argues for following LW rather than Corman.)

Recall that originally Camm changed the behaviour of probe-file
in GCL Version_2_6_7pre in order to be able to distringuish
between a "file" and a "directory". For doing things like
recursively traversing a directory tree, this distinction is
necessary. I believe whether they are actual entities or not,
"." and ".." are (indirect) references to directories - not
files. So to me the Corman behaviour makes the most sense.

Regards,
Bill Page.