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#1109 error if msys is installed in directory with spaces
I just installed latest MSYS version (1.0.11) on a Windows XP box in a directory with spaces in it (e.g. C:\Program Files\MSYS).
Invoking msys.bat, I got the error:
Windows cannot find 'C :\Program' . Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.
The attached patch solves that problem.
Patch file for msys.bat
You are advised in the documentation to not install into a directory with spaces.
Sorry, I just read Cesar's post in the duplicate.
see updated patch in #1511614
http://bambi.otago.ac.nz/hamish/dev/msys/abort_on_spaces.diff
patch updated at URL; contained a typo ("%WD%" was "%WD").
see "patch: fix quoting and handle spaces in path gracefully"
SorceForge bug ID: 2808978
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=2808978&group_id=2435&atid=102435
Hamish
Cesar what is the status with this and with patch 2808978?
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2808978&group_id=2435&atid=302435
So was this issue actually fixed? Or just closing bugs which haven't seen action in a while? Or..?
thanks,
Hamish
As stated in the resolution "out-of-date" which means that 1) the issue is old and 2) we're now at version 1.0.18 instead of 1.0.11. The space issue in PATH is something which may or may not get fixed; other POSIX packages don't handle them well either so what is the point.
Hello, I'm new to this project.
I'm trying to do my application (bginfo4x.sourceforge.net) portable with MSYS.
I have some questions:
Why this patch related to the bug-spaces in msys.bat is not in the release 1.0.18?
Thanks a lot and congratulations for the project.
Can't speak for Cesar, (the MSYS maintainer), but maybe he decided against a patch which could be seen as encouraging what we consider to be defective installations, (with the added support burden which that could bring)?
Hello again,
I understand that msys will not be supported if installed in a folder with spaces, but in my opinion the msys.bat has a bug related to Windows (it is a .bat), not the MSYS itself.
Sorry, English is not my language and sometimes it is difficult to explain things like this.
Thanks a lot.
MSYS.bat is a core component of MSYS itself -- it is the primary method for starting up, and initialising, the MSYS runtime environment, and it serves absolutely no other purpose whatsoever, on any windows host. Why on earth would we even consider acceptance of a patch which adds support for, and therefore might be seen as condoning, an installation choice, by a naive user, which we are not willing to support?
Your suggestion that this is a windows related bug simply defies logic; it is an MSYS implementation choice, to be made by the MSYS maintainer, and nothing more.
man there's a lot of heat around this bug..
in the spirit of 'we'll get further if we all pull in the same direction', see also the patch in #416, "patch: fix quoting and handle spaces in path gracefully" mentioned earlier in the report which results in an easy to understand "this isn't supported, exiting now." error message instead of an ugly crash.
As a 2c field report I'd note that in the copy of MSYS we ship with the Windows port of our software we include a modified version of the patch provided in this bug report. We actively encourage users to install to Program Files (note that on a managed corporate system they may not have any choice but to install to "Documents and Settings" or some other place with a space). We make controled, but moderate use of a few dozen of the regular suspect UNIX/GNU power tools provided, and after a couple years and many 10s of thousands of downloads we haven't had any complaints. Well, we've had tons of complaints, but none that anyone could or would blame on MSYS due to this issue.
best,
Hamish
I do recall that, and this is a strategy which I could support, but ... it isn't my decision to make.
Well, I'd classify any such system as a grossly mismanaged corporate system; (FWIW, my own employer runs a managed system, but the admins are sufficiently astute to recognise the insanity of spaces in path names -- they provide C:\Local as an open alternative to the stupidity of "C:\Documents and Settings" or "C:\Program Files"). I've seen far too many issues which are directly attributable to spaces in path names, to ever consider encouraging this asinine practice.
Hello,
I see: the "space issue" seems a more philosofical question than the problem itself.
I have a question: is MSYS a Windows program, or not?
If yes: my opinion is that nowadays a Windows program works if installed in a folder with spaces. And in fact, it seems that MSYS itself works if used with the msys.bat patch. (confirmed by Hamish aplication).
If not, what is instead of?
Perhaps the space issue can afect when you compile, or when you use MINGW32 as Development platform ... I don't know.
Thanks, your comments are welcome.
Last edit: BGINFO for X and for Windows! 2013-02-03
fwiw the widely used Autoconf(2.13) is quite bad at supporting spaces in path names, so often your ./configure will break if you try that even if the program you are building is ok with it. In that case build without spaces, install to anywhere.
perhaps this is a bad time to bring up i18n and UTF-8 chars in the default path names on non-English versions of Windows? ;-)
ok, walking away before someone explodes,
Hamish
This issue is closed, please stop the insane questioning. The corresponding patch issue is left pending consideration from the maintainer.
SPACES in paths are a known issue. Care must be taken in its use and the typical POSIX programs we are using do not expect to have to deal with spaces in paths and typically use white space as a delimiter for input. Therefore we do not encourage the use of spaces in path names. It isn't a matter of "is MSYS a Windows program", it is a matter of what is expected by the programs we port to use them. We do not wish to spend our time tracking down all of the issues caused by a space in a path in the programs we port so we tell you the user to not use a path with spaces.