Re: GNU make and Windows whitespace in path/file names

[Paul D. Smith]

%% "Goszczynski, Piotr" <address@hidden> writes:

  gp> Please advise how to handle Windows' whitespace unfortunate
  gp> innovation in the GNU environment.

The short answer is, "don't".  Don't create files and directories with
whitespace in them.

I can't speak for the entire GNU environment, but there is really no
chance you can use files with whitespace in them throughout most of
make.  In certain specific areas you can sometimes escape the space, but
not consistently, and not everywhere.

If there is absolutely no way to avoid it, here are the only two tricks
I know:

 1) Use 8.3 filenames.  Most MS filesystems will accept either 8.3
    (which won't have whitespace) or long filenames.

    The problem here is that the exact 8.3 name of a file can _change_
    if you add, remove, or rename other files in the directory :-/.

 2) Use Window's (DOS'?) alias feature to alias a drive letter to the
    top of your directory structure, then be sure that no spaces appear
    _within_ the directory structure.

    So, in your example, you could alias H: (or whatever) to
    "C:/SomeDir/Dir With Space", then use H:/My_MakeLocation instead.
    Don't ask me exactly how to do this, I know very little about
    Windows/DOS.  But, it can be done and the info shouldn't be too hard
    to find :).

-- 
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 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
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