Re: cd into // works?

Chet Ramey wrote:
> > >due to a typo, I typed
> > >
> > >[klamath] ~>cd //
> > >
> > >today. Okay, I'm used to the shell[1] changing any // into /, so I
> > >expected to get to /. Now, I got there, but pwd/$PWD still have "//" in
> > >them?
> 
> This is from the bash FAQ:
> 
> E10) Why does `cd //' leave $PWD as `//'?
> 
> POSIX.2, in its description of `cd', says that *three* or more leading
> slashes may be replaced with a single slash when canonicalizing the
> current working directory.
> 
> This is, I presume, for historical compatibility.  Certain versions of
> Unix, and early network file systems, used paths of the form
> //hostname/path to access `path' on server `hostname'.

I recall PCS Cadmus supported eg /../other_hostname/usr/other_person (on 
Unix Graphics workstations with proprietary networking extension).

-
Julian Stacey        Net & Sys Eng Consultant, Munich       http://berklix.com
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