Re: [PATCH] ld: Unify the directory separator on Windows.

On Fri, 24 Jul 2026, Jan Beulich wrote:

> That said, I'm okay with the code change, but I'd like the description
> to be accurate. I'm inclined to suggest to replace that part of the
> description with just
> 
> "This piece of code appears to be a leftover from the dark Windows 9x
>  era, or even earlier."

 It's not clear what the rationale was as the origin was lost between 
commit 1730ec6b1848 and commit 252b5132c75, which we have no history for 
other than:

Thu Jan 29 16:04:21 1998  Mumit Khan  <[email protected]>

	* ldfile.c (slash): Set to backslash if _WIN32 but not
	__CYGWIN32__.
	(ldfile_open_file_search): If __MSDOS__ or _WIN32, accept a
	leading backslash or a leading x: as an absolute path.
	(ldfile_find_command_file): Use slash rather than / when
	generating name to try.
	* lexsup.c (PATH_SEPARATOR): Define.
	(set_default_dirlist): Use PATH_SEPARATOR rather than ':'.

> (as I think even Win9x was already capable of dealing with '/', at least
> in the common case. Iirc even newer versions of ancient DOS were capable
> of that.)

 It may make sense to summarise findings from the discussion I referred:
<https://inbox.sourceware.org/gdb-patches/[email protected]/>.

  Maciej