Re: [Sbcl-devel] added support for mkdtemp in sb-posix

[Richard M K. <kr...@pr...>]

"Nikodemus Siivola" writes:

> Here's a slightly more correct take on the same subject.
> 
> What I'm not sure of is what these functions should return:
> strings or pathnames? In this version they return pathnames,
> but quite possibly we should stick to strings.

Other functions in SB-POSIX that return filenames (readlink, getcwd,
etc.) return them as strings in filename syntax.  IMO, this is a flaw in
SB-POSIX [1], but it's important to be consistent with the rest of the
interface.

Also, people might already be using SB-POSIX:MKSTEMP, and if they are
parsing the second return value manually, their programs will break.

--
Richard

[1] Filename syntax is not the same as namestring syntax, and so the
only correct way to use SB-POSIX functions that return filenames
alongside ANSI CL to use PARSE-NATIVE-NAMESTRING at the call site.  That
"most" filenames are STRING= to a namestring that (indirectly) denotes
that filename makes need to use PARSE-NATIVE-NAMESTRING less obvious,
but it's still there.