Bug in get_pwd_cwd() in Windows?

> This function tests if $PWD is the same as getcwd() using st_dev and
> st_ino. But on Windows these fields are always zero
> (mingw.c:do_lstat). If cwd is moved away, I think falling back to $PWD
> is wrong. I don't understand the use of $PWD in the first place.
> 1b9a946 (Use nonrelative paths instead of absolute paths for cloned
> repositories - 2008-06-05) does not explain much.

> Am 21.07.2014 16:13, schrieb Duy Nguyen:
>
>> This function tests if $PWD is the same as getcwd() using st_dev and
>> st_ino. But on Windows these fields are always zero
>> (mingw.c:do_lstat). If cwd is moved away, I think falling back to $PWD
>> is wrong. I don't understand the use of $PWD in the first place.
>> 1b9a946 (Use nonrelative paths instead of absolute paths for cloned
>> repositories - 2008-06-05) does not explain much.
>
>
> The commit message reads:
>
>   Particularly for the "alternates" file, if one will be created, we
>   want a path that doesn't depend on the current directory, but we want
>   to retain any symlinks in the path as given and any in the user's view
>   of the current directory when the path was given.
>
> The intent of the patch seems to be to prefer $PWD if it points to the same
> directory as the one returned by getcwd() in order to preserve "the user's
> view".  That's why it introduces make_nonrelative_path() (now called
> absolute_path()), in contrast to make_absolute_path() (now called
> real_path()).
>
> I imagine it's useful e.g. if your home is accessed through a symlink:
>
>         /home/foo -> /some/boring/mountpoint
>
> Then real_path("bar") would give you "/some/boring/mountpoint/bar", while
> absolute_path("bar") returned "/home/foo/bar".  Not resolving symlinks keeps
> the path friendly in this case.  And it keeps working even after the user's
> home is migrated to /a/bigger/partition and /home/foo is updated
> accordingly.

> On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 2:35 AM, René Scharfe <l.s.r@web.de> wrote:
>> Am 21.07.2014 16:13, schrieb Duy Nguyen:
>>
>>> This function tests if $PWD is the same as getcwd() using st_dev and
>>> st_ino. But on Windows these fields are always zero
>>> (mingw.c:do_lstat). If cwd is moved away, I think falling back to $PWD
>>> is wrong. I don't understand the use of $PWD in the first place.
>>> 1b9a946 (Use nonrelative paths instead of absolute paths for cloned
>>> repositories - 2008-06-05) does not explain much.
>>
>>
>> The commit message reads:
>>
>>   Particularly for the "alternates" file, if one will be created, we
>>   want a path that doesn't depend on the current directory, but we want
>>   to retain any symlinks in the path as given and any in the user's view
>>   of the current directory when the path was given.
>>
>> The intent of the patch seems to be to prefer $PWD if it points to the same
>> directory as the one returned by getcwd() in order to preserve "the user's
>> view".  That's why it introduces make_nonrelative_path() (now called
>> absolute_path()), in contrast to make_absolute_path() (now called
>> real_path()).
>>
>> I imagine it's useful e.g. if your home is accessed through a symlink:
>>
>>         /home/foo -> /some/boring/mountpoint
>>
>> Then real_path("bar") would give you "/some/boring/mountpoint/bar", while
>> absolute_path("bar") returned "/home/foo/bar".  Not resolving symlinks keeps
>> the path friendly in this case.  And it keeps working even after the user's
>> home is migrated to /a/bigger/partition and /home/foo is updated
>> accordingly.
> 
> If it's saved back, then yes it's useful. And I think that's the case
> in clone.c. I was tempted to remove this code (because it only works
> if you stand at worktree's root dir anyway, else cwd is moved) but I
> guess we can just disable this code on Windows only instead.
>