psql \! WIN32 cleanup

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:

The attached applied patch tests for COMSPEC in the right place and
supplies a reasonable shell default on Win32.

+ #define DEFAULT_SHELL "c:/windows/system32/cmd.exe"

Is it really a good idea to assume that the Windows installation is on
drive C: ?

(This is an honest question, not a rhetorical one. I dunno whether
inserting the C: is better than leaving it off. I can think of cases
where either way will break, but I'm unsure what's most likely in
practice.)

regards, tom lane

Tom Lane wrote:

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:

The attached applied patch tests for COMSPEC in the right place and
supplies a reasonable shell default on Win32.

+ #define DEFAULT_SHELL "c:/windows/system32/cmd.exe"

Is it really a good idea to assume that the Windows installation is on
drive C: ?

(This is an honest question, not a rhetorical one. I dunno whether
inserting the C: is better than leaving it off. I can think of cases
where either way will break, but I'm unsure what's most likely in
practice.)

Not sure. Should we just do "/windows/system32/cmd.exe" and leave off
the C:? The previous default was "/bin/sh" and that certainly will not
work on Win32.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 359-1001
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  13 Roberts Road
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073

Bruce Momjian wrote:

Tom Lane wrote:

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:

The attached applied patch tests for COMSPEC in the right place and
supplies a reasonable shell default on Win32.

+ #define DEFAULT_SHELL "c:/windows/system32/cmd.exe"

Is it really a good idea to assume that the Windows installation is on
drive C: ?

(This is an honest question, not a rhetorical one. I dunno whether
inserting the C: is better than leaving it off. I can think of cases
where either way will break, but I'm unsure what's most likely in
practice.)

Not sure. Should we just do "/windows/system32/cmd.exe" and leave off
the C:? The previous default was "/bin/sh" and that certainly will not
work on Win32.

Do you need to supply the full path to the executable? Because if it is
in the system PATH, then it should be found, and you can just do:

#define DEFAULT_SHELL "cmd.exe"

Or, if you allow environment variables, then something like:

#define DEFAULT_SHELL "$WINDIR/system32/cmd.exe"

is probably the way to go.

John
=:->

Bruce Momjian wrote:

Tom Lane wrote:

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:

The attached applied patch tests for COMSPEC in the right place and
supplies a reasonable shell default on Win32.

+ #define DEFAULT_SHELL "c:/windows/system32/cmd.exe"

Is it really a good idea to assume that the Windows installation is on
drive C: ?

(This is an honest question, not a rhetorical one. I dunno whether
inserting the C: is better than leaving it off. I can think of cases
where either way will break, but I'm unsure what's most likely in
practice.)

Not sure. Should we just do "/windows/system32/cmd.exe" and leave off
the C:? The previous default was "/bin/sh" and that certainly will not
work on Win32.

I think another path to try if COMSPEC is not defined is:

%SystemRoot%/system32/cmd.exe

Regards
Gaetano Mendola

-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-patches-owner@postgresql.org on behalf of Tom Lane
Sent: Sat 11/6/2004 5:30 AM
To: Bruce Momjian
Cc: PostgreSQL-patches
Subject: Re: [PATCHES] psql \! WIN32 cleanup

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:

The attached applied patch tests for COMSPEC in the right place and
supplies a reasonable shell default on Win32.

+ #define DEFAULT_SHELL "c:/windows/system32/cmd.exe"

Is it really a good idea to assume that the Windows installation is on
drive C: ?

I think it's worse to assume the installation directory is "windows". On windows 2000 for example, the default is "winnt".
Probably the best default would simply be "cmd.exe" as it's invariably in the system path.

Regards, Dave

Dave Page wrote:

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:

The attached applied patch tests for COMSPEC in the right place and
supplies a reasonable shell default on Win32.

+ #define DEFAULT_SHELL "c:/windows/system32/cmd.exe"

Is it really a good idea to assume that the Windows installation is on
drive C: ?

I think it's worse to assume the installation directory is "windows". On windows 2000 for example, the default is "winnt".
Probably the best default would simply be "cmd.exe" as it's invariably in the system path.

Agreed. Done.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 359-1001
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  13 Roberts Road
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073