[Python-Dev] PEP 428 - pathlib (original) (raw)

[Python-Dev] PEP 428 - pathlib - ready for approval

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Wed Nov 20 16:54:14 CET 2013

On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 4:49 AM, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:

On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 12:25:20 +0000 Garth Bushell <garth at garthy.com> wrote: > > I'm also quite uneasy on the case insensitive comparison on Windows as the > File system NTFS is case sensitive. > > """Current Windows file systems, like NTFS, are case-sensitive; that is a > readme.txt and a Readme.txt can exist in the same directory. Windows > disallows the user to create a second file differing only in case due to > compatibility issues with older software not designed for such > operation.""" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casesensitivity)

Well the path class is named WindowsPath, not NTFSPath. In other words, it embodies path semantics as exposed by the Windows system and API, not what NTFS is able to do. Having per-filesystem concrete path classes would quickly grow of control (do we need a separate class for FAT32 filesystems? what if Windows later switches to another filesystem?). The PEP already points to a corresponding discussion: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0428/#case-sensitivity > If people create .PY files it wouldn't work on Linux so why make it work on > windows? What do you mean with "work"? What I know is that if I save a something.PY file under Windows and then double-click on it in the Explorer, it will be launched with the Python interpreter.

Also, let's not forget that apart from comparison (Path('a') == Path('A')), matching and globbing, the WindowsPath class does not normalize the case of pathname components (only slash vs. backslash, redundant [back]slashes, and redundant '.' components are handled). So if you are in the unusual circumstances where you have to use case-sensitive paths on Windows, you can still use WindowsPath.

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