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RE: Warning: using file:// on Windows with curl

From: Norton, Mike via curl-users <curl-users_at_cool.haxx.se>
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2020 19:37:42 +0000

> The benefits of supporting file: are great, though.

No, the benefits of supporting "a resource on the local disk" are great. But TIL that "file:" is not supposed to be a synonym for "a resource on the local disk". The benefits of supporting "file:" in its entire meaning are apparently murkier.

My argument (which, to be clear, I am not very serious about), was that since the "file:" URI scheme is supposed to signify "no particular transfer protocol", then arguably the correct behaviour for a transfer tool might be to have no particular support for it. Because how would one properly implement "nothing in particular"? ;-)

I think the new/original way that Curl interprets "file:" URIs - i.e., "let the OS filesystem figure it out" - is okay. The widespread misconception that "file:" is supposed to mean "a resource on the local disk" is unfortunate, but not Curl's fault. IMO probably the URI scheme should have been named "filesystem:" as opposed to the ambiguous "file:".

-mn

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Received on 2020-03-16