Re: [Chicken-hackers] [PATCH 3/4] Remove ##sys#expand-home-path.

[Peter Bex]

On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 02:55:10AM -0500, Jim Ursetto wrote:
> Although this is more secure in the weird case that you
> have filenames starting with ~ or containing $, I think it would
> potentially break existing code, especially scripts
> (I have used the ~/ shortcut myself in scripts when opening files).
> I assume users would have to call 'expand-path' manually then
> when they want it, which isn't currently exported and would therefore
> need a version test or shim egg to continue working with older
> Chickens.
> 
> This would definitely need a change request and I can see the
> security rationale, but due to the potential breakage I can't
> say I'd vote for it without more convincing.

+1

I think expansion of ~ might be useful, but the variable expansion
really needs to go; I think the way it works is mighty confusing,
as it's completely different from the shell (it's only allowed at
the start of the string, and you can't use ${foo} delimiters).

Changing this would require a CR and probably a deprecation phase.
We can't just change the behaviour of essential procedures willy-nilly.
If you feel strongly about it, we could temporarily introduce a
compile-time option to disable it while it's in deprecation.

Also, please slow down a little.  7 patches in two days is more than
we can keep up with.

Cheers,
Peter
-- 
http://www.more-magic.net